Tales From The Kronos

Silva was waiting for the doctor to finish all of her tests. She didn't understand what those tests were meant to do but she believed Gwyn to do her job well, she had never been disappointed by the doctor before after all.

The doctor took her notebook and wrote in it with a concern on her face, but Silva half expected with reaction.

"You lost a lot of blood lately, either that or you don't eat enough. Stop drinking so much coffee too, it's not good for your heart."

"I'm sorry." Said Silva with an apologetic voice "I try my best, but it's not easy... It just... Happens."

Gwyn noted something on her notepad with her usual tired behavior, and after writing everything she needed, continued talking.

"Have you felt like a decline in your mental health? And is there something noteworthy that happened?"

"Well..." Silva took a moment to think, a lot happened lately, and even if she did her best to be fine, she knew that something must have happened to her. It's true that they worked a lot lately, but she believed it was because of what happened a few days ago, in the land of the cowboys "I think it started to get worse when I saw this girl, Silv. I think she's me from another world."

The doctor nodded, visibly understanding the issue. "Meeting one of your other self can be dangerous for your stability. It's natural that you feel like that."

"Really?" Silva was a bit surprised, Neige met his other self, and he seemed alright. But she never really shared about her mental state with her friends, so maybe Neige was going through the same thing.

"Yes, naturally. But your case is a bit tougher than the others. Your other self made it worse, but it's not the root of your problems." Gwyn looked at the screen of the computer. She seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment, letting out a sigh and frowning her brows before turning toward Silva "I've been working on something for a moment now. I call it the happiness pill."

"The happiness pill? You should be friends with Sepide, you both suck with name."

"Anyway." Continued the doctor, ignoring Silva's remark "Let's just say that it could make you feel way better, but the side effects could be harmful."

Silva stayed silent for a moment, considering how bad it could be. If something happened to her, then she wouldn't have to suffer, or so she thought. The girl shook those thoughts out of her mind and focused back on the conversation with the doctor.

"How harmful?"

"Basically, 'Silva' as you are now would stop existing. It's like when people are under the influence of drugs, they look like someone completely different. You'd keep your memories and most of your personality, but what makes you what you are would be lost in the way."

Silva wasn't sure whether to accept or not, it seemed like a big risk. But if it meant not having to suffer anymore, maybe it was worth it. What does losing herself even mean anyway? She started to think that if she couldn't live a life without suffering, then maybe she shouldn't exist. Silva only returned to the present moment when Gwyn stood up, catching the girl's attention.

"Well I can't give you the pill now anyway, so take your time to think. I still need an important ingredient, so for now, just eat more, drink less coffee, and take your time to think about it."

They both stayed silent for a moment, but the silence would soon be broken by someone entering the room. Even without seeing her Silva knew who it was just by her footsteps. It was a girl, around 20. She looked really messy, with torn clothes and oil everywhere on her, but despite her neglected appearance, her long curly ginger hair was completely clean and smooth. Silva knew her well, it was Emely. The two of them are kind of rivals and don't enjoy each other's company. But even she had to admit, Emely was pretty good at what she was doing. She's the engineer, and she's the one who created the clothes and watches that they use.

The doctor knew about their relationship and already felt tired of being in the same room as those two. Gwyn did her best to look busy as Emely walked toward Silva. For an instant, she appeared to be worried but quickly crossed her arms and commented on Silva's state.

"Silva? What happened? Did you hurt yourself while painting? It must be really hard to throw paint at a canvas."

The girl's behavior changed Silva's mood instantly. If Silva lost herself, then she wouldn't be able to mess with Emely.

"At least I'm not stuck in the ship and I get to go into other worlds."

"Well, you won't be able to say that anymore, I'm going on a mission right now, alone."

Despite how annoyed she was, Gwyn knew she had to interfere, or the two would do that all day long.

"You're going alone? Isn't it against the rules to go alone?"

"Come on, it's for you that I'm doing that. I need to search for the component to fix your computer."

"You're going to fix it?" Asked the doctor, surprised "It's been so long that I thought I would have to deal with a slow computer all my life. And may I know where you're going at least?"

"It's nothing dangerous, I'm going to the world 07... 01... Something. The world full of candies!"

"01112007, you can't even remember it properly. But it's good timing, I need to go there too for my new medicine. Silva and I will come."

"Silva?" Emely looked at Silva with surprise, who seemed as surprised as the young engineer "You, I can understand, but why do we need the failed painter with us?"

"You think that an engineer and a doctor can just deal with danger? She's the adventurer here, and besides, the leader said that a team of three is optimal."

Emely seemed a bit reluctant, but she knew that there was nothing she could do about it.

"Fine, prepare yourselves, we're going as soon as possible."

Silva wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but it could be helping everyone, and also, a candy world seemed like something inspiring for her art.

Once the three of them were ready, they quickly jumped into the new world.

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The world in front of them was so colorful that it hurt their eyes. Trees were replaced by giant lollipops, rivers were made of chocolate, and the road itself was made of waffles. Emely ran around, amazed by the scenery in front of her.

"It's so cool! It's so colorful, thank god I'm not blind. Oh, sorry Silva, I forgot you were here."

Usually, Silva would come back and say something witty, but right now she was more focused on the world they were in.

"It's sticky, it's hard to know where I am."

"It's okay." Assured Gwyn "We'll help you navigate."

"Help her? I'm here to get something, I'm getting it, she better not slow us down." Emely opened her note, and read it, not without difficulties "I need... Ever flowing caramel. There's oil on it, it's annoying."

"Interesting, I would have thought that a blind painter would be less messy than a sighted engineer."

Silva's words annoyed Emely, and yet, the girl still smiled softly. She tried getting closer to Silva but instead fell because of the stickiness of the ground.

"What? That's such a shitty world!" She stood back up and tried her best to clean herself, without much success "Let's get what we need and leave, I feel like I'm going to puke rainbow if we stay here too long."

The group headed the best they could toward their direction, the sticky terrain didn't help, but the lands were full of holes and many other dangers. Navigating in there was hard, especially for Silva. Trying to break the tension in the air, Gwyn started to talk, even if it annoyed her more than anything.

"Emely, why do you need caramel for a computer?"

"It's probably just because she's hungry." Replied Silva.

"I'm not here because I want caramel, it's just that the caramel here has a special property, it always stays cold, allowing for a good coolant. But now I'm curious, why does a doctor need candy?"

"The rock candies of this world have an interesting property. They act as a good anti-depressant, and it will make the med taste a bit better."

"Oh, I see." Said Emely in a weirdly compassionate tone "I hope the med will work, it's not a fun thing to live..."

"Are you actually being nice and understanding?" Asked Silva "I thought you weren't programmed for that."

"Shut up, are you just here to complain?"

The trip continued like that for a while, until Gwyn suddenly ran toward a cave made of crystallized sugar, it looked like the rock candies she was searching for were inside.

"Finally, maybe we'll be able to go home soon."

She started to extract the candies, but Silva felt something like an earthquake and quickly tried to warn the doctor.

"Wait, it's dangerous!"

Even despite Silva's warning, it was too late. The cave closed its entrance and started to wake up. What seemed like a cave was a kind of creature on all four, with a shell made of sugar on its back. The creature started to walk away, but Silva and Emely followed it, hoping to free Gwyn who was trapped in its transparent mouth.

"Can you hear me?" Said the doctor, hoping to get her friends' attention.

"Yeah, we can!" Silva answered while nodding her head while Emely looked at her weirdly like she said something wrong.

"What are you saying?"

"Shut up, I'm talking to Gwyn!"

Emely looked at her confused, it seemed like only Silva could hear Gwyn through the sound of the big creature walking. Maybe her blindness helped her to have better hearing.

"If you can hear me listen carefully." Said Gwyn in her usually soulless voice "This creature probably trapped me and is going to use acid to dissolve me and eat me. It would be nice if we could get me out of here."

"Why are you not panicking!?"

Silva shared what Gwyn said with Emely, hoping they could find a solution with the two of them. Emely thought for a moment before finding an idea.

"This thing is made of sugar, maybe we could make it melt somehow."

"We could maybe try to find a way to heat it, but I don't know how."

"Of course, you're not an engineer, step back and admire!"

Emely took what looked like a gun but with a rounder design. She fired it, and instead of a bullet, it shot a laser aimed at the leg of the creature. The laser managed to melt it and make the creature stumble and fall down. She was proud at first but quickly panicked when the creature fell toward the two girls. Emely took Silva away from the danger and watched as the creature shattered into multiple shards when it fell, freeing Gwyn.

"What was that sound?" Asked Silva.

"I think... That we killed it?"

Gwyn came toward them, with her usual nonchalance. She showed a small bag with the candies inside, she almost seemed proud for a moment.

"I got it, we can search for Emely's thing now."

They were ready to continue, but rain started to fall. Silva stood under the rain with exhaustion, putting the liquid from the sky in her mouth.

"Of course, it's maple syrup... Let's just get it over with."