The Key

What really wrecked me was the headache that hit when my eyes snapped back open. I found myself back in that circular, cavernous section of the maze.

Through the pain, I noticed that the area around me was quite empty, except for Kat who was lying on the ground with her face covered and shivering a few metres in front of me. When I turned around, I froze in place as I noticed the big, desiccated body sprawled on the ground behind me. One thin, bony arm had collapsed, and reached toward me, while the other grabbed onto the blade of his great sword that now rested at an angle, embedded in the body's dried and stretched skin. The dark, stretched skin on the body's face made the identity only slightly harder to determine, but I could tell from the unique great sword that the corpse belonged to Nato.

What happened to the man? I wracked my mind through the jolting headache to try to remember what had happened, but it was no use. I remembered seeing Kat bound and held hostage by Head Pastor Maru, and when I ran towards them, I was bowled over by something big and heavy, then I was in a darkness that seemed tangible and real, and...

I had a conversation with someone — something, but I couldn't remember what was said.

I must have blacked out at some point because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember anything else.

I managed to move my feet and shuffled over to Kat. I had to check if she was okay.

"Kat—!" My voice croaked. The unexpected scratchiness of it caught me off-guard and I coughed a dry cough that only managed to tickle and bother my throat even more.

Weirdly, Kat flinched when I spoke. She mumbled something just out of my hearing.

I cleared my throat and I reached out to touch her on the shoulder as I knelt next to her, "Kat, are you okay?"

At the slightest touch, she screamed and scrambled away from me, "get away from me!"

The outburst made me jump and I held my hands up, half to show that I didn't mean to hurt or scare her, and half to try and calm her down. I took a half-step away from her as she slowly raised her eyes towards mine.

I was taken aback by the absolute terror that I saw in her eyes when they met mine. I kept my arms up and out in front of me.

"Kat, I don't understand what's happened," I started.

"Stay away!" Kat screamed again as she shuffled up into a squatting position. She was ready to spring into a sprint if threatened.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She paused for a second, her eyes searching mine to see if I was being genuine.

"You're a monster," she replied carefully, "you killed the big one — Nato."

I had the inkling that that had happened. I could feel the warmth coming from my left arm was more tangible, like there was added weight behind the way it moved when I moved. I knew that I should have been horrified that I had killed another person, but the sensation that came from the arm oddly kept me calm and collected.

I was more upset about Kat. I just couldn't believe that it had happened right in front of her.

"It's not what you think Kat," my mind scrambled to figure out how to explain to her my situation.

"You're what was prophesied to come," Kat trembled back down to her knees, "it's all true. Everything they taught us was true."

I stood a few metres away from Kat but I could see how her shoulders shook as she cried. She must have felt overwhelmed by the situation that had just unfolded before her eyes. I took a careful, slow step forward and still held out my hands where she could see them.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Kat," my voice trembled as I failed to fake confidence.

"Stay away..." she whimpered.

I took a few more steps closer but decided to stop. She had slowly scrambled back to keep a semblance of the distance between us and I hung my head in defeat and slowly knelt to be closer to her eye level.

"Kat," I called out with the best soothing voice I could muster, "I know you're scared, but just listen to my voice, okay? I'm not going to hurt you."

I paused to give her time to process my words. She continued to sob in fear. I looked down at my left arm in shame and breathed in slowly to calm myself down.

"I know we haven't known each other for a very long time Kat, but remember when I gave you my canteen of water and you drank all of it?" I said softly.

She didn't stop sobbing, but I noticed that she was paying attention to what I was saying.

"I'm still the same person as I was back then," I continued, "I don't know what happened to you when you were captured, and I don't know what you mean when you say that everything you were taught is true. But, I'm still the same Ryuu as I was then, and I promised to protect you, right before we left the forest."

I paused once more.

"I would like to keep that promise." I finished sincerely.

Kat didn't respond to me, but I could hear her sobbing start to subside. She looked up at me, but her eyes showed that she was still distrustful of me.

I looked around me to double-check that there were no enemies, Churchgoer or monster, nearby and sighed as I rested down in a more comfortable sitting position.

"I know that something is going on with me," I started, "just over a month ago I was unable to use my left arm at all."

I swung my arm slowly around to show Kat its limberness, "then one day I got a Quest and at the end of the Quest, I was given a glitched item."

I tightened my left hand into a fist, "the glitched item gave me my left arm back. I felt normal again, and I was finally able to be an adventurer!"

I could see from the corner of my eyes that Kat was listening to my abridged story.

"But something was different, I wasn't completely normal." I continued.

I lowered my arm and allowed my shoulders to slump.

"I got a Quest and it told me that the item — my new arm — required blood sacrifices—" I said before I was interrupted by Kat.

"The Churchgoers like to give blood sacrifices..." her voice wavered in fear, and I saw her start to cower away once more.

I felt stupid. That must have been what happened to her community.

"I see..." I said slowly. I had to be extremely careful with my words.

I sighed as I scratched my head.

"When I was younger, I had a family, but they died," I said, "they were murdered."

My sudden change of topic disarmed Kat, but she was still acting very cautiously.

I threw a thumb back pointing at the corpse of Nato, "Nato was one of the people who murdered my parents."

I could see the shock in Kat's eyes as they darted back and forth between me and Nato's body.

"Mobito was part of their murder too, that's why I got them to come with me to do this Quest," I explained.

"Then Mr. Saizo—?" Kat mumbled.

"No, he's a good man. He didn't know anything," I cut her off, the words stinging since I knew the whole truth already, "I've made sure of it."

Both of us sat in silence. I didn't want her to feel like I was trying to rush her into seeing my side of the story. I was scared that that might have the opposite effect than I intended. She had to come to that conclusion herself.

After a moment, I felt comfortable to continue.

"My point is," I started and I breathed a deep breath in to calm myself, "I know that you must be scared of me, after what you saw, but I promise you, I won't hurt you."

Kat looked so conflicted when I looked over at her. She didn't straight-up run away from me, so I took that as a positive sign.

"I think the System somehow wants me to finish this Quest with the blood sacrifices," I said as I slowly stood up back on my feet, "and for some reason, the System wants my parents' murderers to be the sacrifice."

I held out my right arm in a welcoming gesture, "but before any of that, like I said before, I promised you that I would keep you safe."

"I know it's a lot to ask, but please let me keep my promise."

At first, I stood there awkward and tense as Kat stayed low to the ground on her knees, but after a moment she slowly gathered strength in her legs and stood up.

"Okay..." Kat mumbled and warily took the first step towards me.

I almost bawled into tears with relief, but I had to be strong. For her, and for myself.

"Thank you," my voice broke and barely came out in a whisper.

Even though I could see that she was still scared of me, she still continued to approach me.

"Do you promise that you're still the same Ryuu as before?" she asked as she was just about to grab my hand to hold.

"I promise," my voice wavered as I struggled to keep my emotions in check, "I will never hurt you."

She glared deep into my eyes, making her final judgement on me before she stepped forward and held onto my hand softly. At that moment, she reminded me of Amana and I was overwhelmed by emotion. I lost my balance and fell onto my knees in front of Kat who jumped back at first.

She saw my tears and heard my mumbled thanks and apologies and she lowered her eyes as the only thing she could do was pat my shoulder.

***

It took me a little bit to compose myself, but when we made sure that we had everything that we needed, I explained to Kat that the Key to the exit of this stage had to be in the area somewhere.

She showed me the direction of where Head Pastor Maru had run in, which was the opposite side of the circular area that Nato and I had come from, and we decided to head over to check if the Churchgoer leader had missed something.

She was still cautious about being with me, and I don't blame her, but she seemed to trust me somewhat again.

I stopped her in her tracks before sending her an invite to my Party. She accepted it and I watched as her name appeared as the fifth member of the Party, under Mobito's.

My mind started to fill with thoughts about Saizo and Mobito. According to Kat, she spawned into the maze all by herself and was pretty quickly captured by the Churchgoers. My mouth soured at the thought of Mobito, but I was genuinely worried about Saizo.

I had a couple of Windows up in my field of vision as Kat and I walked. One Window had the number of Users that were currently still alive. There were six Users left. The map was now completely filled since a new milestone was hit, and the Window informed us that the monster hunting us down pretty much now has no limitations on its behaviour. So, the fact that it had not returned to the area we were exploring was a literal miracle.

The other Window that I opened was the Window with the Left Arm Completion Quest:

[ALERT!

A SECRET QUEST FEATURING THE LEFT ARM OF THE ████████████ HAS REVEALED ITS COMPLETION GUIDELINES TO THE SYSTEM!

"Some kind of e̸͎͋n̷̩͆e̶̫͘r̷͈͗g̷̞̚y̵̢̕ emanates from the Left Arm. It calls out in longing for its sacrifice. It is hiding a secret truth.

This piece is willing to reveal its truth after sacrifice requirements have been met."

BLOOD SACRIFICE STATUS TILL COMPLETION: 68%]

It was obvious that for some reason the System wanted my parents' three murderers to be the sacrifices, but I didn't know why. I had never heard anybody speak about the System being overly specific in that department and the glitched and redacted text were all red flags to me.

The System has existed in the world for as long as anybody I know could remember, but it has never acted out of character until recently. What changed?

I looked back from where Kat and I came from and could barely see Nato's corpse in the distance. I looked down at my arm and studied it, but I couldn't see any discernible differences.

I thought back to when Obaa-san died. It was strange. Even though I could remember it happening right in front of me, it felt like her death happened from a distance. I could see in my mind how she looked, and I knew that I was holding her by her throat, but at the same time, it felt like it was somebody else — something else that held her.

At the time, and even now, it surprised me that the sight of her being impaled and covered in her blood did not shock me. It was almost soothing. Even the sight of her body seemingly completely devoid of any moisture didn't scare me. I had an almost unnatural acceptance of it, almost like it was always destined to be.

And now, according to what Kat told me, I apparently had responded to Nato's pleads of mercy, though it didn't sound like me, and somehow, I'm not bothered by her explanation. That same destiny feeling returned and instead of scaring me, it gave me more confidence.

I wondered about what "secret truth" the message in the Window was writing about, but I knew that it all came down to Mobito. He was the last destined sacrifice. I needed to finish this Completion Quest and get Kat and Saizo out of this tower.

We were about halfway through our walk when Kat suddenly stopped in front of me.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I swiped the two Windows away.

"I saw something," Kat mumbled.

She started to run, in the direction slightly to the left of where we had originally headed and I jogged after her.

She stopped almost as suddenly as she started a few minutes later and knelt down on the ground and started to study the floor closely.

I stayed back and gave her some space. I didn't know what she thought she saw, but I thought that since a lot of unsavoury things have happened to her lately, I would give her space and freedom.

"Look!"

I went closer and knelt down next to her at her instruction. She had blown some rock dust away, and uncovered a small cut in the stone floor. She continued to brush more rock dust away and revealed a small cut in the shape of a square.

She barely managed to squeeze a few fingers into the small cut and heaved upward to try and lift the cut stone, but it didn't budge. She tried once more but gave up, rubbing the tips of her fingers as she panted from her efforts.

"It's too heavy," Kat mumbled.

I continued to look at the small square on the ground before I reached down and placed some weight on top of the square with my thumb. With a scrape, the square depressed into the ground. It felt like I hit a limit of some sort and when I removed my pressure, the square bounced back up, this time it was a few centimetres above the ground, and allowed for a better grip to grab hold of.

When I grabbed the outer edges of the square, I was surprised by how light it had been.

Kat and I watched as I slid the square out of its position and realised that the square had only been a top (or base) of a long piece of crystal that lit up. We both looked down at where the square cut had been and noticed that in the middle of the square indent that was left, was a deeper small hole that seemed to match the shape of the crystal.

A Window popped up in both Kat's and my faces:

[ALERT!

A USER HAS FOUND THE KEY! THE LOCATION OF THE EXIT WILL NOW BE REVEALED TO EVERY USER.

NOTE: THE EXIT WILL BE UNLOCKED FOR A SHORT TIME AFTER THE KEY IS USED BEFORE DISAPPEARING. IF USERS DO NOT LEAVE AT THE ALLOTTED TIME, THEY FAIL THE FIRST TASK.

NOTE: THE BEAST WILL STILL BE HUNTING USERS DURING THIS TIME. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DEFEAT IT. YOU WILL FAIL.]

"You found the key!" I exclaimed as I looked at Kat, "how did you do that?"

"I don't know!" Kat said, when I looked up at her, I saw that she was as shocked as I was.

I straightened up and placed the key into my Inventory, "we'll figure out how you did it later, for now, we have to hurry."

I brought up the map and noticed that the exit wasn't too far away from where we were currently. I motioned for her to follow me and started to jog in the direction the map was leading me towards.

"Why?" Kat asked as she kept up with my speed.

"Everybody's going to want to leave the maze," I said grimly.