Reality Is Merciless 2

Chapter 6

Not many Tagamians know their way around Kage Forest, but luckily, Izzy did as she lived there before being captured by Markov.

So, she calmly takes me through the forest.

It was nice hearing our footsteps tapping against the dirt compared to the sound of the cold, hard floors of Markov Experiment Prison.

But the calmness is quickly interrupted as a blood curdling scream echoes throughout the forest.

Isabelle whips her head to face me with an alarmed expression.

"Should we go see who that was?" I ask, with a tone of slight fear in my voice.

"Yeah..." She nods, "It could be Scarlet and Meeko."

Her expression then turns from alarmed back to determined as we run off to investigate.

After a couple minutes of sprinting, we start to see the a hunched over figure sitting by a tree in the distance.

As we get closer and closer, their features are more prominent and it's unmistakably the figure of Scarlet Ichika.

She looks up at us with large, panicked eyes. "Izzy? M-mika?"

"Yes, it's us!" Isabelle gives her a big hug and her panicked eyes begin to soften as she calms down, "I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Me too!" Scarlet replies, chuckling as she stands up and regains a confident posture. "So, what did I miss?"

"Well, we both just escaped Markov together...where we encountered Luna, who sadly died her last death." I manage to explain as much as I can.

"Oh..." Her lips drop, "I'm really sorry that happened to you both, I hope you're okay."

"We're coping." Izzy smiles lightly.

The 3 of us decide to continue walking where we left off, but the more we walk, the more the ground starts to feel fragile and unstable.

"Do you feel that?" Scarlet halts and pokes the ground with the tip of her shoe.

"Yeah..." I also pause in my tracks.

"Come over to this side," Izzy suggests, "It doesn't feel that bad over here!"

We nod and begin to transition over to the left, but the ground just seems to get more and more unstable...until...

CRASH

The ground collapses below Scarlet and I, and we go tumbling down into a pit.

"Are you two okay!?" Isabelle peeks into the hole.

Scarlet groans from the impact. "I think so...!"

"I'll go find something to pull you guys up! Be right back!" Izzy stands up and brushes herself off, before running off into the distance.

"Scarlet?" I speak up with a shaky voice.

"Yeah?" She replies with a tone of curiosity.

"Do you...feel that?"

We pause for a second and let the silence take over.

My legs and arms start to itch as I feel a tingling sensation all over my body...

But Scarlet wasn't tickling me or anything. What was it?

I look down and see hundreds of tiny black spiders crawling up my body.

They were everywhere...we must've fallen into a spider nest.

The two of us let out high pitched squeals.

~~~

The hoard of eight-legged friends scuttle up my legs and make their way to the gaping wound in my side, caused by the piano wire from Markov.

I try to shake them off, but they don't budge, and eventually start embedding themselves into the cut.

"NO NO NO GOD NO!"

I aggressively shake and shake, but it's no use.

Scarlet was already having her own struggles with them, letting out terrified shrieks as they crawl up her face.

Deciding to take action, I desperately stack our bags up against the wall of the pit and start to climb, but the stinging pain of my side causes me to fumble back in agony.

"Need...some help?" Scarlet groans and squashes a group of spiders with her boot.

She then hoists me up on her shoulders and starts to slowly climb up.

No matter how much she slipped down, she kept going. Bruises and grazes were being planted all over our bodies as the coarse ground digs into our skin.

By the time we reach the stable ground, our limbs were aching and we both lay motionless for a minute or two before regaining the energy to stand.

Finally getting rid of the majority of the spiders, the two of us start to trek down the path that Izzy went down.

As we walked, I took the time to look at our surroundings.

There were, as always, gravestones decorating the sides of the path.

And as if it couldn't get more grim, I see a noose slowly swinging in the wind from the corner of my eye.

It seemed like Scarlet saw it all too. She was trembling and her breath was loud and shaky.

"Hey..." I pull her into a warm embrace, "It's gonna be alright."

I could feel her rapid heartbeat against my chest.

BA-DUMP

BA-DUMP

BA-THUMP

BA-THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

The rhythmic sounds of her heartbeat start to slowly transition into a different noise.

I turn around to see Isabelle sprinting towards us, her footsteps being the noise that accompanied Scarlet's heartbeat.

"GUYS!!" She suddenly halts, resting her hands on her knees as she catches her breath, "You won't believe what I just found! It's amazing!!"

"Huh?" Scarlet's head perks up.

"Come on!" Izzy grabs my arm and drags us both deeper into the forest.

She takes us as far as the large opening in the middle of the forest which is sheltered by a massive cherry blossom tree. During Trail Enma, this area is replaced with Amelia's throne room.

This space was much brighter compared to the rest of the forest, so it takes me a while to adjust my eyes to these new conditions.

Under the sakura tree, one of the roots stuck up from the ground and acted as a little bench.

Squinting, I'm able to see three figures sitting on the chunk of bark.

"I'm back." Isabelle softens her voice slightly and begins to slowly walk towards the figures, Scarlet and I following behind.

As we get closer, it's easier for me to make out the features of the people.

Their bodies were slightly faded and glowing, it seemed that two of them were ghosts.

Wait...

Scarlet is the first one to react, she lets out a loud gasp and drops to the ground in shock.

"S-sis?"