9 Divergence

"Ninety-nine." He huffed as he pressed the wound at his side. "This is what I get for being too overconfident."

He looked at around several hundred more creatures in front of him, "Just one more. Come on."

He stood up, looking at them and sighing before summoning a bow and arrow.

I am not very good at this but … I don't have any other choice. He looked at the tip of the arrow and summoned a bottle of poison into his hands.

Opening the bottle, he dipped the arrowhead in the liquid and it disappeared once he was done.

Jumping up at a tree, he took aim and shot the arrow. It did not go straight through this creature's head but it did pierce him. Not one second later, the poison began to take effect and the creature dropped dead.

"One hundred!!! Yaaayyyy!" Cleo appeared rubbing its face on his bloodied cheeks. "You did it!!"

"I did it." He said, smiling but with not enough enthusiasm as Cleo had. "Now, what am I supposed to be doing?"

"First of all, you need to check your level." It said, turning to a screen and he saw his profile.

Level seven.

But this time, his wounds did not heal and he looked questioningly at Cleo.

"I have to give you your reward that is why this isn't happening yet," Cleo said, turning back into a fox.

In its hands appeared a glass sphere with something trapped inside it.

"What is this?" He asked, taking the glass ball.

"This is your reward." It said, "This place is called the Time Forest. Anything and everything time happen here. So it is only fitting that you get this as a reward."

"You want me to do something with this, don't you?"

"How did you know that?" Cleo pretended to be surprised. "I want you to use this and go back to you as age twelve."

"I will have to live through his whole life?" he groaned.

"No. No. Remember? You can't really stay in that time. Just change it a little bit around a certain radius of the place." Cleo said, grinning at him.

"What is that going to do then?"

"You go back to your age as a twelve-year-old. Do you remember how these creatures attacked your family during a gathering that time?"

He was about to shake his head no but then the memory flashed in his mind and he remembered how his mother died because of those creatures.

"I remember." He gasped, coming back. "But … how do I remember? This wasn't in the game."

"That is because this was something of Ajax's memory. You are … how do I say this to not sound weird? Well, it will sound weird anyway I tell you."

"What? What are you trying to say?" he asked, very confused.

"See, you were created out of Ajax."

"You mean ... my brother is my father?!" he asked, horrified.

"No! Not like that. I think. Argghhh! This is so hard to explain." Cleo said flying round and round in circles. "If anything, you are more likely to be known as a part of Ajax.

"When time reversed, Ajax was split into two completely different entities. One is himself and the other took a completely different identity, but it was devoid of a soul and completely empty. That is you. Understand?"

"I think?" He said, tilting his head to the side. "They did that for?"

"In case, just in case he became more powerful." It said, "You need to remember that his magic is tremendous and going back in time like that will not guarantee that he will forget.

"The best way to do that is by erasing his memories and splitting him. Even if he remembers, he will not have the magic to be able to go on a rampage again.

"That is also the reason why the system is very strict when it comes to you and performing your lines properly. Have you tried to resist against it?"

"I did," Ace clapped his hands together. "I could not control what I was saying or doing when I talked to him. This happens every time I am with another character, right?"

"At least you figured that out. Maybe you aren't as dumb as I thought you were."

"I thought you chose me for my skill in the game?" Ace asked, slightly offended,

"Is that what I told you?" Cleo laughed. "Well, you did have a lot of skill and that is exactly why we asked you here."

"Not because the previous one just died and there is a vacant position for me to fill?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at Cleo.

"Not at all," it said with the fakest smile on its face as Ace rolled his eyes. "Now, are you ready to go back?"

"What am I supposed to do there?" He asked, frowning slightly. "Should I be saving my 'mother'?"

"No. No. No." It shook its head. "You can't do that. You cannot bring those actually dead before the game starts back to life. They are dead and will remain that way as long as this loop goes on."

"Then, what am I supposed to do?"

"It will be your glorious awakening," Cleo said, putting its paws on top of the potion as it began to glow and blind Ace before he could say anything else.

_________

Opening his eyes, Ace looked around to see that they were in a field with several tents set up.

There were many men and women in armour walking around the place. Some were even in very fancy attire and he couldn't help but stare at the gigantic skirts the women wore.

How does anyone get close to them? He thought, imagine that as a shield of sorts to make sure that people keep a certain distance from them.

That is kinda smart.

"Ace!" He heard someone shouting and turned to see Ajax looking much younger as he ran to him. "What are you doing here? I was looking for you everywhere."

He waited, thinking his body would respond on its own but it didn't.

"Ace?"

"Huh?" He asked, confused. "Oh. Yeah. I just ... wanted to compete."

"You can compete when you turn sixteen," Ajax said, smiling softly at his little brother as he picked him up in his arms. "Come on, let's get back to mother."

"I don't want to be around her." Ace said, putting all the skills he did not have in acting to work.

From what he could see in Ace's 'memories', he and Ajax share the same mother and she seems to not like him at all.

Originally, Ajax was the only child, and he was loved by his mother dearly, only his magic and that 'darkness' in him was what she couldn't stand about him.

Now that he is split in half, she loves Ajax and detests Ace with her entire being.

Even she does not understand why but ... she does and Ace does not really like her either. But for Ajax's sake, he still was courteous to this woman he calls mother.

There is also a little part of him that wanted to be

Whoa, that was an entire info dump. He shook his head. A secret storyline or something?

You see, in this time that you reversed to, there is nothing the system can do about it. He heard Cleo's voice in his head.

Why put something like that in the first place?

Players that are simply playing this game do not have this kind of option. Only you do because you are acting this out of your own volition.

I don't understand but I am going to pretend that I do.

Ajax continued to walk to the tent, reassuring hit baby brother as much as he could.

In front of them is a very big and very long tent with a long table. Right there sat all the queens, wives of the king, eating and dining together.

They all seem very friendly with each other. Seem is the word here. They cannot stand each other as they all are trying to get the favour of the king.

If they can have the favour of the king, their son is most likely to inherit the throne.

But they can't be unfriendly to each other as the king does not seem to have anyone he particularly likes or dislikes.

He just detests problems in his own family and anyone that caused problems were beheaded without any hesitation.

I have never seen the king. Ace thought back to the game. They never showed his face, he just died one day, probably killed by Ajax.

As they neared the tent, the ground seemed to shake as everyone turned quiet. Even Ajax stopped walking as he touched the hilt of his sword, looking around.

Then, they suddenly heard a scream and the tent the women were in crashed down as a number of the Mirrored Ones emerged from the forest.

"Mother!"