Tales From The Kronos

The group advanced to the deepest part of the tomb. The air was getting stuffier, hindering their progress. A big room with a large drawing on the wall stood there. Not only that but Kairo and Emely were standing here, stuck in front of this puzzle. When she saw them, she wasn't sure whether to be overwhelmed with joy or terrified by Silv's presence. Kairo took his firearm but was instantly disarmed by a shot from Neige.

"Not this time, old friend." Despite his worries, Neige managed to stay steady. He moved his head, gesturing Emely to come toward them. She followed the order and went away from Kairo.

"Neige, let me go. I promise I won't trouble you again."

"Kairo..."

Everyone looked at Neige, understanding the pain he had to go through. His past came to him and he had now to face his old friend. The silence filled the room until Neige broke the tense mood.

"You're gone... Right? I understand what Yada told me now. I can't save everyone..."

"What are you talking about?" Kairo asked, stepping back from Neige.

"Deep in me, I hoped that we could be friends again. Stop Silv and the anomaly, side by side. But it's... It's too late now." Neige took a deep inspiration and tensed his body, staring at his friend in the eyes "Kairo, you're under arrest for treason and endangerment of the universe."

Sepide handcuffed Kairo while Neige held him at gunpoint. Once they made sure he was no longer a threat they looked around to see that Silv was gone.

"I guess she understood we would just arrest her... Maybe she just wanted to stop Kairo too. We should go now."

"Wait!" Yelled Emely "The puzzle! I don't understand it, can we stay for a moment?"

Neige looked at the painting on the wall. There were three holes under three characters, one looked like a girl with short red hair and a firearm, one looked like a girl with short white hair and a dagger, and the last looked like a woman with long hair and a sword. It was hard to see the color of the last one's hair because of the work of time erasing this part of the drawing.

"The one on the left looks like Silva." Noticed Emely "But I have no idea about the other ones..."

"You really can't get her out of your head, huh." Neige said with a smile on his face.

"W-What? That's not that! Don't tell me they don't look similar!"

"They do..." Neige looked at the drawing for a moment before noticing three balls on the ground. They all were made of stone with different words on them "Chaos, order, balance..."

"I don't want to try to put them randomly, it could go sour..."

"I agree." Sepide added to Emely's sentence "I think we should try to find more about those figures."

Neige put one of the orbs under the girl with red hair, panicking his friends on the way.

"Neige! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Chaos..." Neige said to himself, ignoring Emely's question. He headed toward the one with the girl with white hair and put another orb in it "Balance..."

"Neige, are you sure it's a good idea?" Sepide asked with apprehension.

"Order..." Neige placed the last one under the woman with long hair. The room trembled and the wall fissured until it finally broke into pieces, revealing a room behind. All there was in the revealed room was an orb lying on a pillar. Emely went inside and took the orb inside it, glowing with a pale light. The ground below her broke making her fall to the void below her.

"Emely!" Neige rushed without thinking and grabbed Emely's leg before she could fall. Despite his best attempt to stay steady, the ground below him broke, making him fall as well. Sepide managed to grab him but could barely hold on.

"You're... Too heavy..."

"That's not something you should say to a lady!" Yelled Emely after hearing Sepide's words.

She tried her best to hang on, she was about to let go but someone behind her grabbed Neige as well, helping her get them back up.

"Silva?!" Sepide asked with a smile, already seeing her friend behind her.

"I hope I didn't arrive too late!"

Sepide and Silva managed to get everyone in safety. Without a word, they all hurried outside of the room into another safe place in the dungeon.

The group made their way to a safe zone. Everyone was catching their breath but Neige was more focused on Kairo, who seemed hurt and unconscious.

"Why is he hurt? He wasn't bleeding on the head last time."

"Who knows? Maybe one of his old friends wanted to hit him and hit him too strong?" Silva answered with a smug tone.

"And what is that old friend doing here? I thought you were stuck in bed." Neige asked to the smiling Silva.

"Come on, you're the same! Don't tell me you were supposed to be here."

"I didn't get shot."

"I didn't have a mental breakdown."

"Come on, let's just be glad that everyone is safe and go back, alright?" Pleaded Sepide to her two friends. She looked at Emely to see if she agreed, but the latter was more interested in the orb she got.

"That's it? A glass ball?"

The group looked at it closely without knowing its use. Sepide took it and shook it, but nothing more happened.

"That's a bit boring... We almost died because of it. By the way, how did you know the answer Neige?"

"I... Just knew. It's like I was born knowing the answer."

"So you don't even know why it's the answer?" Emely looked disappointed and looked at her watch "We should go back to the ship, I had enough adventures for a week."

The group agreed and went back on the ship, glad that everyone was safe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kairo was sent to one of the cells by Gwyn and Ina until he would eventually wake up. The leader took everyone else in her arms with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're all here, I was so worried! Never do anything dangerous again."

"I think we just attract danger..." Complained Silva.

"Try to attract it less. I think you all should rest for now. Aside from Neige and Silva, you two are going to Gwyn's office, you were both supposed to stay in the med bay!"

"Yes, mom... We'll go see the doctor." Silva walked away from the leader, annoying the latter.

"Don't call me like that..."

The group went together to Gwyn's office, all exhausted from what happened.

"I hope we'll go to a world with plushes as enemies..."

"Be careful of what you wish Silva." Replied Neige "If you say that it will happen and it will be the worst one."

"As if."

After a few minutes, Gwyn entered in her office to see the four friends waiting there. She had her eyes wide open, not believing what she was seeing.

"Don't tell me you all have a problem?"

"Oh no, not at all. We just figured we'd go together."

Gwyn sighed in relief at Emely's words and took her place on her seat.

"I'll take care of Neige first and then see if Silva is alright but she seems to be in a good state."

The others left the room, leaving Neige and the doctor alone in the office.

"So, how do you feel?"

"I'm feeling alright. It's a bit weird but when I saw Silva fall in front of me, it reminded me of my past... I don't want that to happen again."

"You do seem a bit better but I'll still need to keep a close eye on you. Whatever you keep inside yourself is eating you from inside."

"It's alright, don't worry. I'm used to it."

"The fact that you're used to it is even scarier."

Gwyn took her notebook and noted something inside it.

"What happened to Shiro by the way? I didn't see him when I went back to the ship."

"Oh... You don't know yet. Shiro has been deemed too mentally unstable, he's in his cell."

"So he's not better from when I first found him?"

"Indeed. Until then he took his meds, but lately, he stopped. I suppose it's around the moment Kairo left the ship. Now, he keeps saying he wants to help us and doesn't answer any questions." Gwyn continued writing in her notebook but quickly noticed Neige's sorrowful expression "Don't blame yourself, it's already a miracle that we don't have more cases like that."

"It's mostly thanks to you, having a therapist really helps."

"I'm a pharmacist..." Gwyn closed her notebook and placed it on her desk "I think you're better now, it was probably temporary. You had a lot of stress lately, I don't know why you feel better."

"It's because I have incredible friends." Neige said with a smile, a smile that Gwyn gave back.

"Indeed, you should spend more time with them tomorrow. I'll talk with the leader, there shouldn't be any mission for you tomorrow."