The journey back down the spiralling stair case was an awkward one. Everyone was silent, even though there was no reason to be, no one could say anything because of what had transpired earlier. Even Bob was left completely speechless, and unsure of how to act next.
Ki Song was still leading the cohort temporarily, while Smile Of Heaven steadily followed right behind. Every now and then, she would sneak a couple glimpses at Epsilon to check up on him, and still he was abnormally stiff in both expression and emotion.
'Why did he react like that? Did we do something he didn't like?'
He'd been perfectly fine up until now, and she didn't think that they did anything wrong for him to act that way. Was it perhaps something he had seen?
'He does have some kind of unique vision. Maybe there was something that none of us could see, which only he could?'
Or perhaps, the answer was slightly more obvious then that.
"Epsilon, you said you skipped the academy interview before, right?"
He quietly nodded.
"That means you didn't get offered counselling either."
Sometimes, when an ordinary civilian returned back from their First Nightmare, some may come out tougher than before due to its nature, and the weaker ones get filtered out. However, in the rare cases where a nightmare is more mentally draining on its challenger but not as physically demanding, the end result is sometimes a sleeper who isn't quite right in the head.
For sleepers like these, they were offered counselling and therapy which is paid for by the academy. Of course, most tend to reject it, but in Epsilons rare case, he didn't get a chance at all.
"Epsilon.. if there's something wrong, you can talk to us ya know?"
He blinked, slowly and detached, as if the question took a moment to register. In his eyes, something seemed to shift, but quickly it shut its self down.
But Smile Of Heaven saw it, and recognised it for what it was.
Dejection.
"Yeah."
That was all he said.
She wanted to inquire more, she wanted to get to the bottom of this immediately, as the one in charge it was her responsibility. And yet, she just couldn't.
She was supposed to be their leader, but sometimes she felt that wasn't the case at all.
'What am I supposed to do?'
**
After a few minutes of walking down the seemingly bottomless staircase, the first hints of light signalled the end of their journey. Epsilon could feel it from here, the great expanse of the chimera forest.
However, something was wrong. He could feel a large group of Nightmare creatures gathered in one place.
"There's something wrong outside."
Smile Of Heaven in her spirit form, swiftly advanced further ahead as she phased through the wall.
The Chimera forest was vastly different from how Epsilon once remembered it. The fore front area was still lush with green and life, but further to the centre where Ki Songs tree house used to be, it was completely burnt and ashen from the fire she started, as well as the large area around it.
A little further down, the Carrion forest had also changed. Its size had grown larger, with fresher rotting corpses now surrounding it, with them becoming more and more decayed until you were only met with bones at its middle point. And right now, there was a large horde of Nightmare creatures duking it out once again.
But something was different this time.
The pack of Chimeras were fighting against the primates as per usual, this time with outlandish numbers. But what really caught her eye, were the two Nightmare creatures that were quietly staring at each other.
On one side, standing with the Chimera's, was a towering pile of flesh made up of dozens of mis-matched limbs and appendages. Parts and patches of its skin seemed to be decaying and rotting, with others beating and wiggling with a strange semblance of life. It was named the Chimera corpse.
On the other side standing with the Primates, was an abnormally large Nightmare creature that resembled its smaller counterparts with white fur. Its huge, towering size was enough for it to easily stand above the canopy of the forest, and just its palms could level a building with ease. It was named the Silverback.
This was the information she had relayed to her cohort.
Ki Song suggested,
"I see. We should head back then. If we wait for their fight to finish, we can cut through while both sides are weakened. If all goes right, one of those tyrants should be dead too."
But instead of that, Smile Of Heaven disagreed,
"No. We will press through."
Ki Song looked up towards the ethereal spirit with a concerning look, and even Epsilon seemed slightly perplexed at what she was saying.
"Just think about it. The biggest threat to us right now are the Chimeras. They have bigger numbers, so its a given that they'll win this war. But haven't you wondered why the Primates haven't retreated, or why they hadn't left this place yet?"
She sighed,
"It's because they couldn't. This is the last battle that will decide if they have the right to exist. If they run now, the Chimeras with their limitless stamina will follow them. Like Ki Song told me, they were cautious before because they were individually inferior, but now that they have the numbers, they will put an end to them today.
Once all is said and done, the chimeras will still be active even after that massacre. If we get noticed by even one of them, the whole horde will come swarming at us at once, especially their tyrant. If it were the Primates that would win, then maybe that strategy would work, but if its the Chimeras, then there's no chance."
Bob then inquired,
"So what do you suggest we do instead?"
Ki Song gave the dark spirit a confused look, but she did have the same question in her head. Smile Of Heaven who was just as confused, answered it politely,
"Instead, we should make our escape while both Tyrants are in the nick of combat."
The Chimeras were naturally narrow eyed. Once they set their minds on something, nothing could break their focus until it was complete. If all of them were mobilised, even the tyrant, none of them would notice a small group of humans sneaking around them. Making their way to the west side of the lake, where the second exit to the forest laid.
Epsilon felt a little bit incompetent now knowing that was there. If he just walked a bit in that direction rather than towards the centre, he would've met with Smile Of Heaven sooner.
But of course, he just had to listen to his [Judgement] attribute instead. Maybe things would be vastly different now if he didn't. Well, he'd already learnt that lesson.