Chapter 65: Final Memory

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Final Memory

Blacksmiths and craftsmen lived inside gigantic hollow trees. Victor ran through the streets, observing every detail of the memory. There was something about this place that caught his attention, something that reminded him of someone else’s memory, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

Following the eye, he ran with all his might as the shadows devoured everything behind him. There wasn’t even time to stop and take in the scenery anymore, so he simply followed the eye toward the next exit.

[This way. This way,] the eye said, stopping at a corner before entering an alley between the trees.

Victor threw himself into the alley and nearly froze when he saw one of the dwarf twins he had met a long time ago being beaten up by some other guys, but he couldn’t stop to process what he was seeing.

The wall at the end of the alley was completely black, so Victor didn’t hesitate and hurled himself against it. A second later, darkness surrounded him, and he was finally transported to another memory.

He was inside an airplane.

[Move forward. Move forward, Victor.]

Without saying anything, Victor continued. He ran between the airplane seats, but something else happened. An explosion rang out, followed by a violent jolt. Suddenly, the tail section of the plane broke off, and the aircraft began plummeting toward the ground.

Victor clung to one of the seats and looked at the eye.

[This way, Victor.]

’The bathroom?’

Victor crawled toward the bathroom, holding on to the seats. When he finally reached it, he looked back at the shadows that had just begun to appear. Desperate, Victor threw open the bathroom door and slammed it shut once he was inside.

The darkness carried him to the next memory.

This time, he found himself running through the hallways of a middle school lined with lockers. Victor ran after the eye, glancing back as the shadows continued to chase him.

’When the hell are they going to get tired of chasing me?!’

He turned his attention back to the path ahead. The eye had found the next exit inside one of the lockers. Victor opened it and plunged into the darkness.

The next memory appeared as a burning building that Victor had to escape from. He ran down the stairs, the flames brushing against his body as the shadows devoured the memory behind him.

The eye was moving faster and faster, but that was because there was no time to waste. The farther they went, the less time they had to find Brika. This was the most desperate situation he had been in since what happened with the orc.

Finally, the exit appeared on the ground floor. Victor shouted and threw himself at the door. Darkness seized him and hurled him toward the next memory.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Victor was already running after the eye, while the shadows chasing him were getting closer and closer.

This was the memory of a city inhabited by tiny people, and without giving it a second thought, Victor stomped on the houses like a kaiju. He couldn’t care less about the lives of others, except his own and, now, Brika’s.

Farther ahead, there was a small mountain that, from his perspective, looked more like a hill. It was slowly turning black. Victor threw himself toward it and entered the next memory.

And so, one after another, the memories fell behind as he raced for his very survival. Cities, empty streets, villages, fantasy settings, tragedies unfolding across countless memories.

More, more, and more. He rushed through every exit he could find in desperation, as the countdown now showed only eight minutes remaining. Fortunately, he didn’t feel tired, since he was inside his own mind.

On the other hand, the shadows were relentless and didn’t lose sight of Victor for even a second. They were cornering him more easily with every passing moment, but guided by the eye, Victor managed to leave them behind.

The next scenario that appeared before him was none other than a gigantic stone maze covered in vines.

[Final. Final. This is the end! Move forward, Victor. Move forward!], the eye said.

There was nothing to say. All he could do was run and survive. He moved forward, just as the eye had been telling him to do all this time. He wasn’t a professional runner, nor did he have the most athletic body, but he gave everything he had in this race.

He turned corners. He jumped over obstacles. When the walls began moving on their own, changing the layout of the maze, Victor slid underneath some of them, leaped over others, and ran through the gaps between them.

The walls rose from the ground, chasing Victor like the shadows, but he kept running. He ran and ran, with only one thing on his mind.

’Brika...’

Their lives had become connected by a coincidence.

"Brika..." he whispered between ragged breaths.

[Close! We’re close!]

"Brika!"

The next wall collapsed, revealing a sphere of green light floating in the center of the maze, with a cartoonish drawing of Brika on it. Victor spotted it and ran toward it. He leaped between the rising walls and, when he landed, grabbed the sphere, rolled across the ground, and... kept running!

The sphere in his arms lit up and quickly transformed into Brika. As Victor carried her and they desperately fled from the shadows, she opened her eyes and met the determined gaze of that human.

"Victor..."

"Can you run?" he asked.

"What?"

"I asked if you can run!"

"Yes, I think so."

Victor let go of Brika. It looked as though he was about to drop her, but he grabbed her hand and shouted:

"Then run, damn it!"

Brika looked confused, but she ran as Victor had ordered. She glanced back and saw the shadows. Then she spotted the eye and immediately recognized it.

"It worked," she whispered.

Together, they continued along the path through the maze that the eye was following. Despite its mysterious origins, there was no better guide than this one. In any case, this seemed to be the final memory, and perhaps the next door would be the real exit.

[This way!], the eye said.

There was the exit, in a wall that was closing.

"Come on, Brika! Let’s get through together!"

"Yes!"

Just a few more yards, and they crossed through the darkness.