Just when a sense of relief started to form, he felt Eury’s gauntlet on his shoulder. This wasn’t particularly good. Slowly turning around his music skills only to confirm what he already suspected.

“You know…” the calm tone with which the gorgon began only made Dallion even tenser. “You’re lucky I don’t hit men unprovoked.”

“Thanks?” That was the only thing that Dallion could think of. Apparently, it wasn’t the correct response, for he saw the anger in the gorgon grow.

“A childhood sweetheart? And you didn’t tell me about it?” The snakes on Euryale’s head moved about, even they seemed ticked.

We were just friends, Dallion thought.

MINOR HIT

A red rectangle appeared above the gorgon. Thoughts still had the power to hurt, and so far Dallion wasn’t going a good job of it.

Lux, heal Eury, he ordered.

The firebird hopped from him onto Euryale, covering her with a layer of blue flames. As much as that would help her physical damage, it didn’t seem to have decreased the emotional one. Real life really was messy, especially when Dallion forced himself not to run away. A dull ache appeared in his temples as he tried to think of a solution to this.

He knew what he was supposed to say, but he knew what the consequences might be if he did: he had already put one romantic relation to rest—be it a misconceived one. There was every chance that this might cause him and Eury to break up… and that was going to be painful. The mere thought filled him with a bitter sensation of loss and regret.

“Nothing to say?” The gorgon crossed her arms.

“We’re good together,” Dallion said, the words sticking to his throat. “I think I love you.”

That was the worst combination of words if there ever was one, but for better or worse, it represented the truth. This wasn’t the first time Dallion was convinced he was in love with someone. Throughout high school, it had turned out to be a fling—he was at the right place at the right time, as the saying went.

“Think?” A pebble of pain appeared in the gorgon’s body. On the surface, she didn’t show it, but it was clear she was hurting as well. “Your opinion of me is really low.”

“No, it’s…” It’s you, not me? Dallion stopped himself before uttering that. This wasn’t the way. The fighting might have stopped, but he was still on the defensive, and losing. After all, his opponent wasn’t Euryale, it never was. The one he was fighting was the trials, which meant he was fighting himself.

Memories of advice given throughout the years came back to him. There were many ways of war and fighting and in order to make it far, Dallion had to find a way to become victorious on more arenas than one. Physical, emotional, and intellectual… he had to master all fields. He had already made progress on the physical front, was arguably okay on the intellectual level, as far as tactics were concerned, at least. The emotional, though, was a different matter entirely. Avoiding conflicts, he had never trained himself for a fight there, and it was showing. To think he used to laugh at people who stressed out talking on the phone or in front of crowds, while he had a similar problem all along, just better hidden.

“I was afraid of what might happen,” he said, calm returning to him. “I didn’t feel I did anything to earn the attention I received. From you, from Gloria, from everyone else. That’s why I always feared that what came suddenly could just as easily vanish as well.”

The gorgon’s anger started to diminish. In a matter of seconds, it was the size of a grape, then a pea.

“I know I can lose you…” Dallion looked over his shoulder at Gloria. “Both of you. I’ve always known, and that’s why I tried to keep the bubbles of reality apart, so as not to ruin the perfect things I had. In the past, I’d been hurt many times… or so I thought. The thing is, it was all in my head. I never remained long enough to experience real pain, and maybe I should have. The thing is, I like the way things turned out and I want them to continue like that in the real world. I want this to work out.” He turned back to the gorgon. “And I want to keep you as a friend. Being greedy I’m hoping that you two will end up being friends as well.”

“So, you want the same things you did when you came here?” Eury said, somewhat unconvinced.

“Yeah.” Dallion smiled. “But I’m not counting them to be a given. I’ve been very lucky, but you don’t owe me anything, no one does. The only thing I could do is to fight for what I have and hope it’s enough.”

MAJOR HEAL

EURYALE’s health has been increased by 50%

“You really have grown.” The gorgon smiled, giving Dallion a friendly punch in the shoulder. “What if we had continued fighting? Would you have taken a side?”

“Most likely not. But if you had tried to kill each other, I would have stood in-between.”

“Isn’t that sweet,” Gloria chuckled. “You might still have to, though. This is your realm, but things are different on the outside.”

“I know. Things are beyond my control, but that doesn’t mean I have to run away.”

You have broken through your barrier.

Your level has increased to 16.

Choose the focus that will serve you best.

The blue rectangle appeared. For a moment Dallion wondered whether he should say something else to Eury or Gloria. He knew they weren’t real, but now that the challenge was over, he was grateful to them for the talk. It was tempting to want to have them remain as echoes, but Dallion was fully aware that would be pointless. After all, they weren’t people, just perceptions of such given form. Having them remain was no different from having a few mirrors in a room and calling it a party.

They are a necessary step, Nil said in his wise man’s voice. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, I’m proud of you, dear boy.

Oh?

It’s not to say I didn’t trust you’ll succeed, I’m just pleased in the fashion you handled it, Nil replied in his typically sly fashion. It’s different for everyone. Some are forceful, others are mild. The important thing is that you found what works for you.

So it was the right choice?

It’s always the right choice as long as the Moons let you go on. Is it a good choice or a moral choice? Well, that’s for a much larger conversation. Personally, I think it was, but I’m not you, nor am I a Moon.

After some hesitation, Dallion chose to increase his mind again to twelve. Splitting was his greatest asset right now. Everything else could wait, or rely on achievements.

The challenge complete, Dallion remained silent in the copy of the village chief’s mansion for a while. He had no idea how much time he had spent reminiscing. It was Lux that brought him back to reality. Bored with doing nothing, the bird was pestering to look around.

“Just a minute, Lux,” Dallion said as the bird shoved into him with its fiery body. “Okay, okay. You can fly about. Just take Nox with you.”

In contrast, the crackling didn’t seem to appreciate the notion in the least. Nonetheless, the cub appeared, made an audible sigh, taking on the role of a duty-bound older brother, and let Lux grab him.

Due to the many times Lux had to carry people, he had developed the skill to almost merge with the entity he would help fly, giving it a pair of blue, flaming wings. Looking at Nox, Dallion wished he still had his Earth phone so he could take a selfie of himself.

“Try to find anything hidden,” he shouted. “I’ll look around here.”

After another few minutes of reflection, Dallion did just that. The search started in the obvious places: the main hall, the basement, and village chief’s room. Normally, those would be great places to have things. The problem was that the mansion only reflected what Dallion remembered it, and he hadn’t been in a lot of it. Half the rooms that existed now were just speculation on his part, and trying to think up a treasure room was no help in the least.

Thankfully, it was Nox again who found the discrepancy. Ironically, it was in the very well that Dallion had helped repair. After having Lux pick him up and then drop him to the bottom of the well, Dallion easily managed to find the small iron box hidden in the well’s wall. Using the Nox dagger to loosen in, Dallion then removed the lid.

You have found the hidden reward and shall be rewarded.

Smash the window to see what gift the Seven have granted you.

The message was the same as last time. Given that the puzzle was far more emotionally taxing, Dallion expected the reward to be greater, although one could never tell with the realms. As Nil had said, it could be anything from a new skill to a design of a simple dagger. Last time Dallion had gained five points for his ??? stat—a stat he still didn’t know what it was.

“Let’s see what you’ve got for me now,” Dallion said, and punched the rectangle.

Paradox Cube Reward

You have increased your ??? stat by 5

“Seriously?” Dallion had never felt so happy and annoyed at the same time. On the one hand, getting a five-point reward was huge. Now he was much closer to finding what that attribute was. At the same time, it diluted his focus. With four levels left to the next awakening gate, Dallion could get his perception to twenty, the mystery one. At the same time, he also needed to increase his mind as much as possible.

Things are never easy, are they, Nil? Dallion asked.

Not unless you have only one choice, the echo replied. Then you just speed forward like a firebird. So, what are you planning now? Want to continue with the next level?

No, I think I have to take care of a few things I’ve been neglecting. Maybe it’s time to make my realm a bit more hospitable, have a quick chat in person with Harp, and yourself. Possibly check out the things the limiting echo tried to do while here. But before that, I have to go see a few people in the real world.

The realm disappeared, and Dallion found himself back in his room. He had a notion that a lot of time had passed, but this time the sensation was slightly different—as if he was having a deja vus.

I can fix up the place, you know, Gen offered. I know what you know.

Sounds good. Just don’t go too wild, Dallion laughed.

It’s your realm. You can always change it later.

That sounded very much like something Dallion would say. Even so, it was better than nothing. At the end of the day, if one couldn’t trust oneself, who could they trust?

Leaving all his gear except the Nox dagger, Dallion went straight for Gloria’s room. A few minutes ago he would have taken several deep breaths, hesitating whether to knock or not. Right now, all that fear and hesitation was no more.

“Gloria,” Dallion said, knocking on the door. “You up?”

“I’m half naked,” the reply came from inside. She was clearly not happy with his timing.

“Put something on and let’s go. I want you to meet someone.”

“Didn’t you use to sleep until noon?”

“No, that’s your brother. Now, come on. Get ready, I’ll go get a bite while you’re done.”

“And who is so important that you have to completely ruin my day?”

“A close friend of mine. You’ll like her. She’s a gorgon.”