Tales From The Kronos

"Hey, wake up!"

Eida was trying her best to wake up the group and succeeded after a while. They all looked like they could use more sleep, but they still decided to wake up, they had a mission after all.

"Come on, it's 10 am, the race will start in a few hours."

"Already?" Snow was surprised, he looked outside from the window, but it was still dark outside, with the moon and the stars "It's clearly night outside."

Eida seemed confused by his remark but just ignored his sentence.

"Anyway, we should get going. Ririka is ready, and I still need to go get Neige."

"Wait." Said Sepide "We need to get the game for the leader, you remember? I don't really like races anyway, so I can go get it while you're racing, I'll come to watch the race after I'm done."

"I'm not against it, the sooner we finish with it, the sooner we can get back." Snow agreed and Silva nodded her head, visibly agreeing too. "We'll find a way to help Eida win the race, and you'll go get the game."

"It's so dumb, why do we have to get a stupid game? We're trying to save the world."

"Save the world?" Eida was confused by Silva's words, and couldn't help but correct her with a smile "If I lose it's not the end of the world."

"Oh yeah, right. It's just a saying, anyway let's go!"

Silva let out a relieved sigh, she almost said something that would change the Fate of this world. Snow and she took Eida and left their other objective in the hands of Sepide. The serious girl was now alone and needed to find a way to get the game, even though she had no money.

Sepide found a place selling games, not without difficulties. The dark streets and the broken signs didn't help her very much. This whole world seemed like it was on the brink of ruin, it's a miracle that everyone survived in here. But the state of this world didn't matter for now, her objective was to find the video game after all. She still believed that it was dumb, she didn't even have money to buy it, and the shopkeeper seemed like the kind of man to rip off the limbs of thieves. But still, it was an order from the leader herself, and she didn't have any money on her. After making sure that nobody would be able to stop her, she took the game and ran off as far as she could. The shopkeeper looked at her running away with an exhausted expression on his face, visibly not paid enough to run after her.

Sepide managed to hide in a small street, and thankfully, nobody followed her. The girl got what she needed, and even if she felt bad, she knew there wasn't any other way.

"You're a very naughty child."

The feminine-sounding voice behind Sepide sent chills down her spine. She made sure that no one followed her, and yet someone was there. She turned around and saw a familiar face.

"Eida?" She asked, a bit confused. Eida was supposed to be with her two friends, and she was quite different. Her long and blonde hair violet eyes were the same, but they looked like they were well taken care of, unlike Eida's messy hair. Her outfit was strange too, like the one of a nun, but ripped apart like she just came out of a jungle. The nun and Eida both looked different but felt similar for some reason "You're not Eida." Concluded Sepide, on her guards.

"Not really no. Probably someone from my family tree or something. I'm just a humble nun that just saw a naughty girl commit a naughty crime."

Sepide looked at the game in her hand, realizing she must have been caught stealing it. But she didn't really have a choice, now she only had to hope that she would get away from this situation. Sepide thought the nun was mad at first, but she still kept a kind and warm smile, making it hard to understand what she wanted.

"I'm sorry. I know that there are no excuses for that, but I need it."

"It's alright." Assured the nun. "I am not here to judge you, I did bad things too, I understand what it is to be desperate."

Sepide really had a bad feeling about this nun, something wasn't quite making sense to her, but she couldn't say what it was exactly.

"It's weird." Added the nun. "I never saw you before."

"It's normal, I don't come out often." Sepide was trying to get away from this conversation, but the nun got very close to her. The nun was so close that Sepide could hear the sound of her breath, and yet she didn't hear any.

"You're not from this world, right?"

Sepide took a step back, confirming the woman's suspicions.

"The world where nights are eternal while the rain never stops. What brings you here?"

"Who... Are you?" Asked Sepide, while keeping a reasonable distance.

"Oh right, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Ada, I think that you heard that name before. Right, Sepide?"

Neige said that the anomaly was a nun called Ada. Everything seemed to point toward the woman in front of her being the anomaly. Without thinking, Sepide took her firearm and pointed it at her.

"Ada, you are under arrest for endangerment of the world!"

The woman took an exaggerated sad face, she was more having fun than anything else and didn't seem to take the threat very seriously.

"Come on, I helped you so much. How could you have won the race without the map?"

"The map?" Sepide recalled the map that came out of the window, she thought it was a stroke of luck, but was the anomaly really behind it? "That makes no sense, why would you help us?"

"Because we both want Neige's good. But this man, Jairo? Mairo? Whatever Mr. Philosopher now wants to destroy the universe and put Neige in danger. I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance." As Ada's voice got harsher, a dark matter started to gather around her. It was like it had its own mind and was protecting the former nun in a way, was it what Silva, Kairo, and Neige saw in that world? Sepide had never seen it before, but it was more than likely that this woman was the origin of this dark matter. Ada regained her calm and continued like nothing happened, under Sepide's worried gaze.

"If I could, I'd kill this pretentious man right there, but who knows what would happen to this world if I interfered?"

"Since when do you worry about the world's well-being?"

"I don't want its demise... All I want is Neige's safety, but if I have to end a world for that, I will."

"You won't be able to do anything!" Threatened Sepide. "As a member of the Kronos, I arrest you."

"The Kronos?" The woman was thinking deeply, before asking in a curious voice "Is that where your Neige is from? If only I knew, I went there, but all I found was some weird diary."

"The diary? Were you the one that stole it?"

"Maybe. I couldn't read it, so I just threw it between worlds."

Between worlds? Sepide wondered if it was even possible, what would even be there? It just reinforced her belief that the anomaly was dangerous, and needed to be eliminated as soon as possible. She shot with her revolver, hoping she would touch her target. Even though she aimed correctly and saw the bullet go through the anomaly, the woman was still standing like nothing happened.

"Don't waste your pebbles, It can't hurt me anymore."

Sepide still held her firearm to the woman, knowing it was in vain. Sepide stepped back, trying to avoid the nun.

"I will perform my duty and stop you!"

"Oh, you look adorable when you're mad. You look like a nice and quiet girl, but deep inside you there's a wildfire!"

"Shut up! Don't talk like you know me!"

Sepide shot again, hoping it would work, but just like last time the bullet went through. Her rage became fear, that thing was not human, Sepide couldn't do anything else than wonder if there was anything she could do.

The anomaly was slowly getting closer to her, while Sepide was stepping back in the same rhythm as her.

"Come on, don't be scared. I won't hurt you, we have the same goal after all."

Sepide continued to step back, but the slippery floor made her trip. The woman was getting closer, and when she was close enough, the nun whispered something in Sepied's ear.

"I won't do anything to you, I don't care about you, I will get Neige. But if you get in my way I won't hesitate to get rid of you. And besides, isn't practical when you have a God on your side, helping you?"

Sepide was almost in tears, Ada put her hand on her cheek to wipe her tears, but when she put her hands on Sepide, both felt a sharp pain and got away from each other. The anomaly almost lost her human form for a moment and became like a mass of black matter while stepping away before taking back her human shape.

It took Sepide a moment before she remembered her leader's words. She warned Sepide that if the same person from two different universes had physical contact, they would reject each other, as they weren't supposed to meet. Was that what happened? But then, it would mean that the anomaly is her from another universe. They don't even look remotely close, but it seemed like the most logical explanation.

"You, what are you? Who are you?!" Yelled the anomaly.

"I... Don't know." Sepide didn't know how to react. She was disgusted, like she was the reason that everything happened, even if she knew it wasn't the case. Sepide wondered if it meant she could stop the anomaly somehow, and it also meant that the anomaly herself couldn't touch or hurt her. She stood back up again, and this time had a more serious tone.

"Ada, I won't let you cause any problems to my friends or any worlds."

"That's some big words for a small body like you. You're not a good enough friend for Neige, just take care of him for now." Ada made a big smile before completely transforming into the black slimy matter and running away through the sewers. Sepide took this moment to take a deep breath and looked at the game that she stole from the shop.

"I hope it was all worth it... All of that for a stupid game."