Chương 109: Scarlet Pain (III)
Kiyro quickly tapped the Easter Egg to see what it was. Then, a celebratory bang of confetti was shown in front of his glasses, startling him. He took several steps back, trying to orientate himself again. Then, a small dove appeared with a green olive branch before his screen. It fluttered around him as the branch fell, and a message appeared before him.
You have opened up an Easter Egg. A blessing is on its way.
The dove and the message disappeared into thin air. Kiyro wondered what this blessing was. What the game of Growth could have sent its way towards him in such a circumstance, he did not know. Was it a game item? A possible gift, or could it be a reward? He thought it over a couple of times.
"Kiyro? What are you looking at?" Eve asked. She peered over his shoulder, trying to see the same thing as he, but could not.
"It's nothing. Let's just go on with what we were doing." Kiyro put the dirtied mop back into the bucket and pushed it against the wall. He was finished mopping up the floor and was ready to go.
"You sure? It seemed you were looking at something."
"Well, have you ever gotten an easter egg before?"
"Easter egg? Do you mean the holiday?"
"No. I'm talking about finding an easter egg in games. Where the creator leaves behind small fun things that usually don't have anything to do with the game. Sometimes, it could be an extra level, funny scenes, or extras while playing."
"Not that I have knowledge of. I haven't heard anything about the game of Growth talking about any Easter Egg in games. Did you find one or something?"
"Yea. I did, but nothing happened."
"Well, it is an Easter Egg. I wouldn't be sure what an Easter Egg would do in a Real-life quest. Kind of odd, don't you think?" They both had begun to walk towards their destination, as shown on their map.
"Either way, this World's Real-life quest is a bit strange. Doing errands and supposedly closing some kind of barrier. Who would've thought I would be doing these odd things?"
Kiyro shrugged. "It happens. Life throws a funny curveball when it wants to."
"I agree." Eve nodded; she placed her hands in her pockets.
Then Eve suddenly stopped moving and stared off into the distance. For a full five seconds, Eve did not respond or move.
"Eve?" Kiyro stopped and waved in front of her face. She did not respond. "Eve." He spoke
louder towards her.
Once again, she did not move nor twitch.
"Eve!" Kiyro burst out loud, trying to catch her attention.
Eve startled awake and turned towards Kiyro. Her eyes widened, and her face paled. "Kiyro?"
"Are you okay?" Kiyro asked, concerned. He wondered why she was zoning out in the middle of the hallway, not moving.
"I-I'm okay." She responded and began to walk forward.
Kiyro followed her, wondering what was wrong, but she would not speak nor answer. Instead, her pace seemed to increase.
"Eve," Kiyro grabs her hand and stops her. "Are you alright?"
Eve stopped and looked around, skittish. "I-I think so."
"What's wrong? What got you so riled up?" Kiyro was starting to get worried for her. "Take a deep breath and breathe." He motioned her to follow.
She nodded vigorously and took a deep breath. As she let out air, her mind and body slowly settled. She was finally calm.
"Better?"
"Yea. Thanks."
"So what was that about?
Eve once again slowly began to fidget uncomfortably. "I-" She stopped and stared at him. "I had-"
Once again, Eve uncomfortably shuffled, trying to say the right words but was held back, trying to figure out what to say. One of her hands was sliding back and forth on her other arms; watching her made Kiyro slightly uncomfortable.
"It's okay. I'm here. I'm all ears." Kiyro gently said, hoping the push would stop her from moving irritably.
"I need you to be open minded," Eve replied. She looked at him straight in his eyes, accentuating its importance.
"I'm always open-minded to new ideas," Kiyro reassured her, now even more curious about what she had to say.
"I had a premonition." Eve quickly replied that Kiyro almost did not catch what she had stated.
"Excuse me?"
"A premonition. Basically a Perception of events before they happen. In other words, a vision. I had a vision." She clenched her teeth, trying not to repeatedly say the same phrase a third time. "I know. I'm the last person to have something strange happen, but I didn't believe it too until it hit me."
"Were you sleepy? Hallucination could hit you when you don't have enough sleep." Kiyro asked, making sure she didn't see things.
"No. I really had one. Come on, Kiyro, would you really hear something so crazy coming out of my mouth like this?"
Kiyro thought for a moment. She had a valid point. Whenever something supernatural was brought up, she and Alex flatly denied it. "So, what is it?"
"Okay," she breathed in deeply and exhaled, letting out all her worries. "It just hit me. I was just standing still for a moment when everything around me stopped abruptly, and another place appeared before me like a whirlwind." Her face darkened with worry. "I saw scarlet paint spilled all over a white floor. Dimly lit and broken lights tinted windows on both sides as the scarlet paint looked like it was smeared by dragging something on the ground. I specifically remember this horrible smell that is really difficult to explain. I'm not sure where it suddenly came from. It appeared and disappeared like smoke." She shivered.
"Was that all?"
"There was one more thing. I saw a very unusual mask. The mask was smiling with a five-pointed black star underneath its left eye. It had a skull design on the whole mask. What really got me was the feeling behind the mask; I have never felt so much hatred from it."
Kiyro thought about it for a moment. For Agnis to spill out something that she was not comfortable in was surprising in itself.
"I don't know about you, but I don't want to see something like that again. It's creepy." Agnis rubbed her arms and shivered once again. She was not comfortable telling Kiyro what she saw.
"Hopefully, it means nothing," Kiyro replied. "Let's go on ahead and meet up with others."
"Yea. That would be a good idea. This college is nice and all, but I can't seem to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling in my mind. It's like I'm on thin ice and don't know when it will break."
"Wait, you had that feeling too?" Kiyro asked. "I thought I was the only one feeling like that."
"You too?" Eve's eyes turned wide like a doe staring at a blinding light. "Since when? I have been getting the feeling the moment we started saying those words out loud."
"I felt uncomfortable since the moment we stepped on school grounds. I just can't explain it, but I feel like we need to hurry up and get out of here." Kiyro tried to shake off the feeling, but the feeling was intensifying with every step they took.
"You're starting to worry me. You know we can feed off each other's emotions and blow them out of proportion. Let's just say it's all in our heads and get this over with." Eve stuck closer to him when she gave such an answer.
"Let's go with that." Trying to help calm Eve's nerves.
They continued walking towards their destination, winding through hallways, cafeterias, and even the school's bookstore.
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