(Ariel’s perspective)

I’m not sure what to think anymore.

I had been starting to finally relax a little and let my guard down near Ben but after what just transpired I think I should stay vigilant. I still owe him for getting me out of that place but after helping him out a bit I think I should leave.

He turned around and looked at me and I didn’t know what to do so I just gave him a small, awkward smile. He stared at me for a few seconds before shaking his head and looked beyond the rooftop. He seemed to be deep in thought.

He is always like this, quiet and in his thoughts. He seems to constantly be thinking about something or the other and apart from when we first met I have never seen him show any sort of emotion. It makes what he did just now worrying.

He told me through telepathy to just go with what he was doing, so I knew that he was acting but it all felt so natural! His body language, the changes in his voice, the look in his eyes and his facial expressions were all a bit too perfect to be artificial. He even drew me in and I ended up blurting out about how he had killed people just to save me and the rest of the girls.

His act of stepping in front of me and trying to protect me charmed me at the time, and I felt safe beside him which is why I said that I wanted to stay by him. Everything was okay in my opinion until the whole group of people left and I saw a smirk on Ben’s face for a brief second.

The smirk was there just for a moment, but it was enough to jolt me and I remembered that it had all been an act so far. Ben had been acting the whole time!

He was acting when he stepped in front of me, when he pretended to be angry at them, when he made himself out to be stupid and when he showed that he was disturbed about his ability. I didn’t mind anything else, after all he was acting just to get rid of them, but the way he reacted about his ability was troubling.

I remember when I first asked him about his ability… didn’t he react in the same way? He made a troubled expression, he sighed and he even said something similar to what he said today! Was it all an act that day as well?

I don’t think any normal human would be fine with having an ability that makes them drink blood! Ben does have a lot of powers, but at what cost? He has to drink the blood of not just humans, which is disturbing enough, but also from disgusting and horrible monsters!

What kind of human would be fine by that?

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. ‘Let’s think about this Ariel…’

Oh! The group of people did mention that they had a person who was able to detect lies didn’t they? So that means Ben wasn’t lying about anything today!

Hmm… But then what was that smirk at the end…? Did he find some way to deceive them whilst saying the truth? After all back when things were normal people could fool lie detectors couldn’t they...?

I’m so confused!

Ben is a good guy I think…. The best thing about him is that he doesn’t look at me that way. Almost every other male I’ve come across since my body developed when I was 14 years old has always just had my looks in their mind. But Ben isn’t like that… He barely even glances at me! I’ve spent so much time getting unwanted attention by males that Ben’s lack of attention is like a breath of fresh air.

Hmmm… Is he gay…? Is that why I have never even seen him sneak a glance at me…?

….

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. This was going nowhere, I’m getting sidetracked!

The important question is whether I can trust him or not! Now, I was thinking about whether he lied to me about how his ability made him feel or not. If he isn’t disturbed about it then that’s creepy! And if he did lie to me then I don’t know if I can trust him or not. I never lie, so how can I trust someone who lies?

……

I still can’t make up my mind! Was he lying or wasn’t he?!

Urgh… this is so frustrating!

Let’s just ask him!

“Ben.”

“hmmm…?” He didn’t expect me to interrupt his thought process I think… “Yeah what is it?”

“Are you ga…. I mean… Are you really disturbed about your ability or was that just an act…?” It’s good I caught myself before I asked him something else entirely!

‘Concentrate Ariel!’

"I never lie myself, so I hope you can answer honestly..."

I looked straight into his eyes to see if he would lie or not. I think I can judge when someone is lying to me… At least I hope I can..

He hesitated a bit as if thinking about what to say before answering, “Honestly, I’m not sure. It disturbed me at first but now it somehow doesn’t…? I hate to admit it but I think I am getting used to this disturbing life…”

Oh…

At least he was honest about his feelings… I guess that’s a good thing…?

_________________________________

(Ben’s perspective)

Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah they also had…

“Ben.”

“hmmm…?” Ariel just called me I think. What does she want now? “Yeah what is it?”

“Are you ga…. I mean… Are you really disturbed about your ability or was that just an act…?”

What was that first thing she changed…?

"I never lie myself, so I hope you can answer honestly..."

Nevermind. What a load of crap! You never lie...? Please.

Everybody lies.

No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you will lie sooner or later. The only people who don't lie are the ones who can't. Like infants, toddlers, unconscious people, mentally-challenged persons, those who are dead.

It's not our fault, it's the fault of our society... well the society which was there before all this shit took place. We actually started believing that some lies weren't actually counted as lies. It's okay for parents to lie to their kids about Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, it's fine to reply "I'm okay." when someone asks for your health when in fact you aren't 'okay', everything's good if you pretend to give a crap about people's lives because if you don't you won't be considered 'normal'...

Our generation grew up around lies. We actually don't realise how much we lie in our daily lives!

.....

Wait... what am I thinking about here...? Oh right, Ariel asked me a stupid question and then made some idiotic remarks.

Why is she asking this question all of a sudden? Is it because of all the acting that I just did? Does she have doubts over my honesty?

Well, cry me a river! No one is honest in our generation! *sigh*

I could see it in her eyes that either answer of yes or no won’t suffice. If I say yes she will still have her doubts and if I answer no then she will think of me as a disturbing psycho. One choice left: Say you’re not sure!

“Honestly, I’m not sure. It disturbed me at first but now it somehow doesn’t…? I hate to admit it but I think I am getting used to this disturbing life…”

She simply nodded back in answer but I could see she was still conflicted.

Oh I just can’t be bothered with this right now. Let her think whatever she wants, I have other things on my mind!

‘Let’s see, where was I…?’

I was making a mental note of all the unique abilities they had! This list will give me an idea of what I can expect to gain from monsters and also allow me to prepare for any possible confrontation with that group of idiots in the future.

Let’s see… there was ‘force’ which basically made the person a jedi who can also use force-fields, ‘all-elemental manipulation’... useless for me as I can gain all elements individually anyways, ‘adaptability’ allows the person to adapt to anything (underwater, outer-space, inside an active volcano etc)...

....

Dammit, Ariel is still looking at me in curiosity. It’s times like these I truly realise the benefits of being alone!

Urgh, let’s leave making this list aside for now. It’s uncomfortable having someone stare at you continuously. I should probably distract her to stop her from overthinking things and forcing me to talk more about feelings and other crap.

“Shall we head over to find my friends now?” I asked normally as if there wasn’t a weird atmosphere surrounding us.

She replied yes and I immediately prepared to teleport. Ariel could still be uncomfortable with me touching her but I need to do it in order to teleport so tough luck. Besides, she just made me uncomfortable too…

I grabbed her shoulder, activated hiding presence over both me and her and teleported straight to a rooftop that overlooked my university. I let go of her shoulder and, ignoring her accusing stare, I checked out our surroundings for any threats. Finding none, I moved my gaze to the university.

Ah, the University of California, such memories. Mostly of boring lectures and annoying people but some good ones mixed in there.

I used my vision abilities to search for my friends. I had absolutely no idea whether they would still be here or not, or if they were still alive, but this is where I last saw them so this is where the search will begin.

I looked around and saw a large number of heat signatures all around the university, both human and non-human. Weird. Last time there weren’t so many monsters were there…? The whole university was basically crawling with them!

It looks like the largest group of people is located in the East Auditorium. Using X-ray vision I saw James and my other friends there as well. Good, I found them. Though I have no idea why they are still in this monster-infested university, surely there must be some other place nearby that was safer!

I grabbed Ariel by the shoulder again, ignored her stare, activated hiding presence once again and teleported inside the university near the East Auditorium where there were no people and no monsters. As soon as we arrived…

Warning! You have entered into the lair of an unknown entity. This whole area is under its control, and the only way to leave this area is to kill this entity.

I saw the dumbfounded expression of Ariel from the corner of my eye and confirmed that I wasn’t the only one to get this message. I tried teleporting out but…

Teleportation to target location not possible.

So, the reason all my friends are still here is because they are trapped. And me and Ariel are trapped now too.

‘Well, this is new…’

…..

I should probably be worried right now but all I could think about was how this ‘entity’ probably has a few good abilities for me to absorb….

______________________________________

Author's note: Wrote this in a rush, so apologies in advance in case of lack of quality/mistakes. If you spot an error, please point it out!

Also, this isn't a dungeon, although it is pretty similar to one. Actual dungeons may or may not come later on... I'm not certain about this fact. Opinions?

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