Legacy of the Betelgeuse

I look back and everyone is gone. Emma who was holding me so tightly is now gone. I'm calling everyone's name, but there are no replies. Since I'm on my own, I continue to move and follow the tall shrubs that will lead me somewhere, and I hope I can meet with someone.

I'm starting to hear whispers. My whole body is trembling and trying so hard to compose myself by taking a deep breath and exhale deeply. I keep doing that until I feel a bit better, but the longer I ignore them, the louder the whispers are. I know that I can't stay still like this, so I force myself to keep walking deeper into the forest.

I have been hearing a woman's screams coming from behind me, but those are not their voices. It's someone else's voice. I'm fine with that since I believe those screams are just from the other players that have been recorded by the system. I keep walking forward, but then I hear a rustling sound coming from behind.

"I'm so sorry, Trevor."

The voice is coming right from behind my right ear. My whole body is paralyzed. I can't move and all I can do is moving my eyes like a cat that is being grabbed on the neck. My heart is beating so fast and my vision is getting blurry. That voice, I can't. I really need Becker's help right now, but I can't move my body or even open my mouth to use the command.

"It never was your fault, Trevor. Never..."

"You are so precious to me, but I let you down..."

"If I can turn back time, I would still love you like the first time we met..."

"But, I did not regret meeting him..."

"Compared to him, you are not as great as him..."

Those words are still haunting me for the last few years and it was the most painful feeling that I have ever had. That voice, that face that has been wandering inside my head will never leave no matter how hard I tried to forget, it will come right back to me.

I'm screaming on the inside, and I hope that anyone will see me and approach me. I keep my eyes close while ignoring those voices that coming from behind me.

I have been paralyzed for I don't know how long. Now I realize that nobody is going to save me, so I'm trying to move my finger one by one while ignoring the voice. I'm slowly able to control my own body again, and as soon as I can clench my fist and toes, I immediately open my eyes and run as fast as I can.

For the first time, I feel relieved like a weight on my body has lifted. I'm laughing weirdly as I'm running away from her. I keep running and follow the narrow path, but then I hear a woman is crying not far from where I'm standing at. This time, I know who's voice is, It's Ivonna's voice. I follow her voice, but the maze is stupidly difficult to reach where she is at.

I have been hearing her cries for almost 5 minutes now, I tried to call her name, but she's not replying. I'm running a long string narrow path and her voice is getting closer and closer. I turn left and it's a dead-end, but I can see Ivonna is crouching while hugging herself facing the corner.

I'm slowly walking toward her.

"Ivonna?"

Ivonna immediately screams and she starts hugging herself so tightly. I'm confused and grab her shoulder. She turns around and pushes me away with her red eyes from crying. She's pointing at me with an angry face.

"Don't touch me!"

I back away while lifting my hands.

"I'm sorry..."

Ivonna is trembling in fear, and she really needs someone to comfort her. I think I understand a bit about her situation right now. I clear my throat.

"Ivonna, I will bring Francesca, Chelsea, or Grisell to you. Wait for me here, okay?"

Ivonna looks back and stares at me. She nods weakly. I nod and then immediately leave to find Francesca, Chelsea, or Grisell.

I drop so many items on each corner that lead to different paths, so I know if I have been here or not, and I put down my [Max Health Potion] on the path that leads to where Ivonna is at so when I find one of them, we can immediately run back to her. But to be honest, this will be a very difficult task than retrieving the item from the quest.

I don't know where I am right now, but I already put hundreds of [Max Health Potion] on the ground. I keep searching for them and then I hear a rustling sound from in front of me. I can hear two voices whispering to each other. I use [Moonsteps] and approach the voices. I appear behind them and thank god it's Francesca and Grisell.

"Yo!"

Both of them jump forward and look back immediately with their eyes wide open and breathing heavily. Grisell is covering her eyes while screaming.

"Mommy!"

Francesca looks at me and immediately falls on her knees while sighing with relief.

"Jesus f*cking christ, Trevor! You scared the shit out of us."

I shake my head.

"Sorry for that, but there's no time for this. Ivonna needs your help. She's being hysterical and it worries me."

Francesca immediately jolts and stands up.

"Lead the way!"

We are running through the maze while looting all the items that I dropped.

I'm back to where Ivonna is at with Francesca and Grisell. Ivonna is still crouching and crying while hugging herself so tightly. Francesca and Grisell screaming Ivonna's name and run toward her. Ivonna turns around and immediately falls to the ground when she sees Francesca and Grisell. She has been enduring the fear for a long time.

Francesca lifts Ivonna up and then she's hugging Ivonna so tightly while Grisell is hugging Ivonna from the back. They both are comforting her, but Ivonna is already on her limit and can't do anything and just staring at nothing while leaning on Francesca.

I look around and then a figure is walking towards me from in front of me. That figure slowly transforms into a woman that I know. My eyes are wide open and can't believe what I'm seeing right now. But then Ivoona is mumbling at something and pointing at behind me weakly. I look back and it's a man figure walking towards us. Francesca and Grisell are shocked.

I don't know who this guy is, but it seems that this figure is the same as the woman in front of me, and we might have the same fear toward a specific person. I'm about to approach the guy, but the woman figure is already near me and this time she grabs my hand so tightly as if she's preventing me from moving. Her expression is making me uncomfortable.

Ivonna looks at me and takes a deep breath.

"Trevor! Please help me!"

I snap back to reality. I immediately and forcefully removes her hands from mine. She starts to cry and it hurts me, but she's not the real one. I grab my chained sickles and swing them at the guy. It immediately changes into a cloud of smoke from my attack. I look at her and I immediately swing my sickle at her as well, and she disappears like the guy from earlier.

I look at Francesca.

"Can you carry her? We need to move and find the others. The longer we are in this forest, the worse this forest can be. I don't know what kind of fear you guys have, but those things are coming from all of us."

Francesca nods.

"I got it. Let's not waste any time."

We are walking and following the path that is provided by the forest. We keep calling for the names of the others, but there are no replies. This is why I don't want to do this quest again. It's true that bringing more players into the forest is the best way, but the more players in the forest, the more terrifying things that are generated by the system.

I barely check on Ivonna's condition because I'm worried that she would yell at me again like back then. But hearing her voice again and having a small talk with Francesca and Grisell is enough to say that she's getting better.

*Crack!*

I look down and there's a glass that is shattered. I take a look at it and it seems that this glass is new, and this glass is of the shape of a health potion. It seems that someone just used it recently because of how clean the glass is. We then keep shouting their names and hope someone is replying.

As we go further, there's a blood trail on the ground. We agree to follow the blood and then we see someone is covered with blood while holding a scythe.

"William?!"

William turns around and is staring at us for quite a while with his blank expression.

"Trevor, Miss Ivonna, Miss Francesca, and Miss Grisell? Why are you guys in here? They're coming for me. They will come to all of you as well now! Run!"

The three of us are furrowing our forehead while staring at William. I look around and then look back at him.

"What do you mean? They who?"

Suddenly footsteps are coming from behind us with soft mischievous giggling. A giggle that chills right to the bone. A giggle that we hear often from horror ghost films.

William is shaking his head and nervously looks at us.

"I'm sorry that you have to be a part of this..."