"Meh!" Rieven uttered, pointing at my chest.
There were no red marks on my shirt, and I didn't feel any pain. None of this can be real, but the people walking past us look real.
"Killeh!"
I looked in the direction he pointed and noticed myself. There was an exact copy of me, but looking a little younger; we had to be in the past.
I walked up to myself and grabbed him on the shoulder, but he looked around as if we didn't exist.
"All this damn complaining! Cant she just give me one month vacation, damn it!" He said and bumped his shoulder against mine, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the ground. However, I tried to save the situation by quickly getting up, not showing that I was affected by the push.
"We should follow him, I suppose it has something to do with me," I told the others.
I tried to think back to the night, but it was empty. Did I miss something that night?
We kept walking behind him, maintaining our distance in case something happened. He strolled around and did some window shopping, looking sad, I suppose Victoria didn't give him any vacation during the summer. Now that I think about it, Victoria never gives me a vacation; I leave the phone and disappear for two or three weeks during the summer. Why did I even bother asking her for the vacation?
I closed in on the Zark, who kept staring at a toy behind the window.
"Maybe I should buy that for Jia Ho? Maybe he is too old for that!" He said, and I stared at the toy that had caught his eye, but I had no memory of the toy.
"Do you know what will happen?" The Mage asked.
I looked back at them and answered:
"I have no idea!"
The other me started to walk, when suddenly, in an alleyway not far away, a scrambling sound caught the other me's attention, and the lamp shining up the alley went completely dark. He walked towards the alley, and we followed him. When we approached, it was dark, but two shadowy figures were moving around. Suddenly, a whimper followed by a moan as the two figures pressed against the wall of the building to the left. The other me stared for a minute with one more moaning coming from the dark, and he just shrugged his shoulder and started to walk away, commenting to himself:
"I should get a good night's sleep, maybe Katerina is home."
He walked away, and when we tried to go after him, we couldn't move from the alleyway.
"REWIND!" Someone yelled in the air, and a blond guy showed up beside me.
The movement of the shadowy figures moved around a moment before they froze.
Who the hell is the blond guy dressed in golden clothing beside me who stopped our movement?
"Psst! The Van Polan boy! Don't tell anyone I'm here in the Trial with the group. It's me, Olronig, but call me Ronnie here, as I don't want anyone to notice I'm here with your group if someone shows up at the bridge."
Was he joking? He sounded so serious before the Trial began, but he looks like a weird clown without makeup, wearing a strange outfit from the 1500s.
"Eh! Didn't you say that it was like a couple of 100 years when someone took the bridge path?"
"Sch! Do not tell anyone, I was worried because I had to get Martha, my assistant, I call her the clay woman with a figure. Martha patched you up a little bit to stop the bleeding from your arm. Something with a number was moving on your wrist, and I looked at it for a while. We cannot have you dying on us when the Trial is going on, can we? By the way! What will happen to the numbers when they reach zero?"
Got damn it, do I have to handle this kind of shit now?
"I will die, okay! I will die if it reaches zero." I explained to Ronnie, who looked thrilled to hear about death.
"Well, Van Polan, let us rewind the scene without your other one and put some light in the scene," Ronnie explained.
The dark alley shone up as a man had pushed a woman to a wall and was looking like he was kissing her on the shoulder when he suddenly leaned back with blood all around his mouth. His eyes were pitch black as he moved to the other side of the wall with the woman, who was making a whimpering sound as he leaned on her other shoulder, now biting down. I saw the other me watching into the darkness, but he didn't act at all.
"MOVE ZARK! WHY ARE YOU JUST WATCHING THEM!" I screamed at him, trying to get his attention, but it was to no avail.
Zark walked away from us, and Ronnie moved forward, blocking the view of the pair. His facial expression had changed; it no longer looked like he was going to be funny anymore.
"You see! Van Polan, the powerful organization, is of no use. If you had looked closer, you would have noticed, but for a moment, you were so upset about your vacation that you forgot what your job was: to save lives. What happened was because you just were a total...what do humans call it...Douche!"
It's not possible, I would never miss a creature. I bent my body to the side and saw that the man had green and red colors on his left hand.
"Mr Zark! I thought you tried to save everyone, but it seems only humans are eligible. Is that something you will let the ones you have bonded with believe in? From my view, I can see that there is a connection between you and the two small ones; their belief is to save everyone. You, though, do not look like you care about anyone other than the humans. Am I not right?" Ronnie asked.
"Meh!" Followed by "Killeh," both of them uttered.
I looked down at both of them staring at me like they were curious about my answer.
"Are you not going to tell them, they want to know if you will protect their species if it comes down to your survival?" Ronnie kept pushing.
This damn fire demon tries to upset us. Is it trying to break the bond between us, the creatures, and humans?
"Why do you care about that? It has nothing to do with the Trial at all. You are trying to affect us as a group." I commented to try and shut him up.
He laughed in a joking manner when the woman behind him fell to the ground.
"Be glad that I didnt sucked out the blood from your family bitch!" The man in the background commented before walking away.
I tried to move, while Killeh and Rieven looked affected by Ronnie's words. They just kept staring at me, with no usual banter; the look from both was different. We could suddenly move, and Ronnie moved to the side as the woman slowly got up from the ground. Moved towards the woman who was holding her right shoulder in pain, and tears were flowing down her cheek. Ronnie moved behind us and commented:
"Face responsibility for your actions and the suffering you caused, Van Polan!" And Ronnie disappeared.
Why is he talking in riddles, and what does he mean by that?