The Twenty Virtues Book 1- The Twenty Generals

35-Toy's Story

Lysa stood between Emily and Chin, her friend already destabilized enough, but as soon as she noticed the general in front of her, Emily hid behind her friend, frightened. She was tired of all this—she was nobody, unable to do anything. She couldn't fight alone; that truth that had settled in her heart shattered the illusion that had kept her confident. How much the truth hurts...

"Girl... I'll say this one more time," the toy declared, his voice even stronger. "Leave this girl behind and run. If you're going to fight me, fight for yourself, not for someone else."

"I-I can't do that," she stammered. At least, she had never considered it.

"Why not? Has she ever done anything for you?"

Lysa thought for a moment about what it would mean to leave Emily behind. Yes, if she left her, she'd be rid of the tantrums, the fights, her silly behavior. If she abandoned the girl, the pressure of falling behind, of having to be better, might ease. That envy might disappear... Perhaps... she would find peace. That's what would happen if she abandoned Emily.

But no, leaving her behind would also mean giving up the laughter, the conversations and games, the annoyingly stupid admiration they had for each other. Moreover, it would be cruel to abandon someone in that situation. Lysa wasn't bad, she was good. That's what made the girl push back.

"She's my friend, and it's not right to just leave her here."

"Friend? That's not a reason. Right? Who set that rule?" The toy's left arm then transformed in a robotic manner into the barrel of a gun. He aimed and began firing successively like a machine gun. Lysa grabbed Emily by the arm and pulled her out of the toy's line of fire. The girl with shorter hair stumbled a bit from Lysa's sudden yank, which lifted her off the ground, but they managed to escape the shots.

The general pursued them with his attacks, but they continued to flee. Following her instincts, Lysa had an idea of how far she could run. They entered one of the city's alleys, slipping out of the enemy's sight. Chin used the cables extending from his back to walk along the walls, following the children like a giant spider hunting its prey, but now he had lost sight of them.

Lysa was confident she could win if she used her light. If she could make the toy see her shine, she would destroy him for sure. However, the moment she emerged in front of him, there was a high chance of being completely perforated; she needed to catch him by surprise and use her light before he could keep shooting.

"Emily, listen to me. We need to hide so we can catch him by surprise, but with him following us like this, we won't be able to do much. I think it's better if we split up; that'll confuse him a bit, and—"

"NO!" Emily shouted in a whisper, gripping the one she saw as a sister even tighter, terrified at the mere idea of being separated from her in this situation. "I don't want to be alone. I won't be able to do anything. And I don't want you to risk yourself for me; we need to escape together."

"Emily... what happened? You've already defeated one of them, by yourself, and came out unscathed."

"No, no. It wasn't me; it was the other me... and she's an illusion... I can't fight him."

"Illusion? What do you mean? Emily, I don't understand..."

"I ain't..." The child couldn't finish the sentence as the sound of small objects falling echoed through the alley. Surrounding the girls were various small cylindrical devices made of plastic, all of which began emitting a type of dense white smoke. Smoke that quickly filled the area they were in.

"He found us." Once again, the two girls started running, but before they could get out of the smoke, Emily stopped moving, suddenly coughing violently, clutching her throat as if trying to fix something wrong. She struggled desperately to breathe, her eyes watering and her skin turning red. "Emily."