Chapter 34: Finding Answers

A/N: I've noticed something. Not a single review has been left in three chapters' time. And given that the last chapter took like a full month, and this chapter took almost three weeks (I was really busy, not my fault!), that says something.

So, I decided to check the view statistics per chapter on the story, too, and...

Damn... is anyone still around?

I mean, I don't care if people read this or not, I'll keep writing either way, cause I never planned for my stories to become popular in the first place.

The thing is, though, if not many people are reading this story anymore, then I should probably divert more effort into my newer Omori story on Ao3, which is currently holding a lot more attention.

BEFORE YOU FREAK OUT, I'm not saying I'd completely abandon this series.

I almost made that mistake once. I won't let it happen ever again.

But I mean, I'm only one man. I can only do so much at once. So having my priorities straight is vital, so that I know what's best to spend my energy budget on.

And if most of my regulars are gone, then that lowers this story's priority, does it not?

But I dunno. It'll be a little while yet before I make a final decision. So if you want to make your presence known, now's the time.

Enough about that, though, on with the chapter.

I don't know how long we sat there like that. It sure wasnt long enough.

I wanted to stay like that forever.

But as I was enjoying my family's presence, something flashed behind my eyes.

A single, large white eye, staring at me from the darkness inside my eyelids.

It startled me enough that I suddenly jumped up and opened my eyes, letting out a sharp exhale.

"What was that?" Hailey asked.

... The eye that I saw was one of the eyes that the being in my dream had.

Why could I see it in real life, too?

I shook the thought out of my head. Maybe I was so worried I was hallucinating it.

... I really need answers.

"Hey... Hailey, mind if you step outside for a little bit?" I asked uncomfortably. She really didn't like being left out.

"Whyyyyyy?" She asked skeptically.

"I need to talk with Zena... alone."

She frowned.

"Fiiiine..."

She walked out of the room, causing me to sigh with relief.

Good. Calming a panicking Hailey whilst discussing this with Zena would be difficult.

"Okay, Markus. What's the problem this time?" Zena asked with mild irritation. She was probably upset I made Hailey wait outside like that, couldn't blame her.

I sighed. This wasn't gonna be fun.

"There's been something that's been bothering me for a while now, but has really been stressing me out as of late," I began.

"And that is?"

I turned to her.

"That day, when we had to look for you in the Twilight Bell realm and found you praying on the water, what was up with that?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" She counter-asked.

"Before we went in, we asked the nomads about where you were. They said you left for the Twilight Bell and had been gone for much longer than usual. We talked to Badge Seller. He told us to be careful if we went looking for you, because you might act 'off' in there," I began, air quoting the 'off' part.

Her eyes narrowed.

"But that's not all. When we finally found you, how come you were still as a freaking statue, and why were you practically comatose?!"

"I was deep in concentration!" She shouted.

I shook my head.

"Oh, I'm sure you were, but that doesn't explain why nudging you, shouting your name, or any of the stuff usually used to wake someone up didn't even phase you. I refuse to believe any amount of simple prayer can make you COMPLETELY senseless to the world around you. Like, if it was just these oddities by themselves, I would've passed it off as just that, oddities, but all of them combined? It doesn't add up to being just a weird occurrence and nothing more," I declared.

She closed her eyes.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" She said, "You have to believe me, Markus! Why would I lie?!"

I sighed and shook my head.

"Zena, I do believe you. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. I'm just worried about your well-being," I assured her, "What if there's some dark entity there, preying on your mind while you're at your weakest? I wouldn't be there to protect you... hell, I don't know how I even could."

She looked down.

"And to exemplify my fears, last night, I had a dream," I continued, "I was in a white void. I walked around aimlessly for a while, before a crack appeared in the whiteness beyond. A crack that was entirely dark. It slowly spread across the surface, until a colossal, dark tentacle monstrosity with seven white eyes burst through and plunged the whole zone into darkness."

She adopted a confused expression.

"And it spoke to me. It threatened me to stay away from you, saying 'the woman you love is mine', and that I'd interfered with its plans. It threatened to kill me and Hailey if I didn't do what it said."

She shuddered, then took a deep breath.

"That's... peculiar timing," She muttered.

"I thought so, too, and shrugged it off as just my brain messing with me. But there's a few things that don't make sense. It grabbed me in that dream and crushed me, and I felt it. It hurt a ton. You aren't supposed to be able to actually feel anything in dreams. Nor are you supposed to be able to remember them clearly," I explained, "But it could just be a side effect of being in another universe, so I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet. And either way, it reminded me that I urgently need to get everything cleared up. Do you have ANY possible explanations for any of this?" I interrogated.

She looked down and put a hand to her chin, lost in thought.

"Well... the part with the nomads is simple. Sometimes I do get carried away and stay places longer than I intend to. I try my best to avoid that happening, because they get very worried when that happens, but it still happens rarely. Nobody's perfect, after all," She explained.

I nodded. Very fair point. Made perfect sense to me.

"As for Badge Seller... I don't really know what he's talking about. Could you elaborate?" She asked.

I shrugged.

"He said he didn't know either. He just had a feeling that you might act differently in that realm," I replied, "Do you ever feel different in there?"

"Now that I think about it... I do. I can't really describe what it's like... the closest thing would be like... like everything is a dream, and I get almost... sleepy? It's very subtle... but it's there," She said, "I think it was a bit stronger that day, but it's hard to remember."

I frowned. That didn't sound great, given our current context.

"And do you have any possible explanation for that?"

"Well, do you feel that way when you're there, too?" She asked.

"Nope. It definitely feels otherworldly, like a place where I don't belong, but I don't feel personally affected when I'm there. Pretty sure Hailey would say the same," I explained.

Her expression soured.

"Well... I don't know then. Perhaps it's just a side effect of my abilities and history with the place, combined with being in the realm itself...? But in that case, shouldn't I feel more alert there? Should I not be stronger in that place?" She questioned, "I'm sure there's a logical explanation, though."

Hm.

Maybe she was right.

"There very well could be. However, could you at least explain why you were so difficult to wake up? Because that's the most worrying part."

She sighed.

"At that point, I just decided it was me being lost in what I was doing and nothing more. I didn't realize you had to go through that much to bring me back... so... I'm not quite sure, either. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."

I did not like that reply AT ALL.

"... Do... do you think you would've been able to... wake up by yourself if we didn't show up?" I asked.

Please say yes please say yes please say yes please say yes

She was silent.

I began to feel light-headed from worry.

"Z-Zena?"

"I... I don't know."

I became so dizzy that I quickly stumbled over to a chair and fell into it before closing my eyes and forcing myself to take deep breaths.

Don't panic, Markus... you have a solution to this. It's a simple fix, in fact.

I took one last deep sigh before adopting a look of determination.

Well, the answer was simple now.

"In that case, I think my worries are at least partially correct. None of this makes sense," I muttered.

"I usually would just say you're worrying too much... but I'm worried now, too," She mused, "I still think there's another explanation for this, but this is a possibility... a very real one."

"And because of that, you will not going back there until this is solved. I will not have you risk your well-being like that just for a little bit of prayer."

She took a deep, long sigh.

"Understood..." She said depressingly.

The eye flashed in front of me again, this time stronger and with a loud hissing sound, causing me to stumble backwards.

"Gah..."

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"The thing I saw in my dream... its eye keeps flashing in front of my face, first time was when I was hugging you and Hailey, and the second time happened just now," I explained, "If this supposed entity is real, it's probably extremely upset with me warning you about it."

She scoffed.

"As if it could even do anything about it," She spat.

"Either way, I'll try talking to Traveller and Badge Seller about this. They may be able to clear some things up, or give me some ideas to work with," I suggested, "'Cause like you said, there's probably a logical explanation for what happened that day. I merely jumped to the first semi-logical conclusion."

She nodded with a hum.

She then stared at me, and a smile began to creep onto her face.

"You're so protective..." She said before swinging her head around with a dramatic sigh and an look of absolute admiration, "You're my knight in shining armour."

...

What?

She giggled, which just added to my confusion.

Was she teasing me-?

I shook the thought out of my head. I need to remind myself that it's impossible to comprehend her.

I crossed my arms.

"I'll never be able to understand one percent of how your mind works, woman," I muttered, causing her to laugh. "Well, I'm gonna go grab Hailey."

She merely hummed in response.

I quickly peeked my head out the door and looked for Hailey. She was sitting not too far away, playing with some dolls.

I decided to watch her for a little bit as she played. She made two dolls kiss with a big smile on her face and a tiny squeak of joy.

I felt my heart melt.

How could she be so cute?

It shouldn't be physically possible to be that adorable...

... Well, I could adore her later.

A smirk came to my face.

"Hailey."

She jumped and scrambled to hide her dolls.

Hehe... why was she always so skittish about this stuff?

"You know, Hailey, you shouldn't be embarrassed about playing with toys. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you're a kid. Feel free to act like one," I assured her.

She sighed.

"Isn't there a saying about old habits?" She asked.

I nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.

"'Old habits die hard.' Fair enough," I said, "Just remember that there's nobody around who judges you anymore."

"I do, I do..." She muttered, "Anyway, can I come back in now?"

"Mhm. Why else would I have called you?" I chuckled.

She shrugged.

I opened the door and walked out of the way so she could come into the room. She did and closed the door behind her.

"Sooo, what did ya talk about?" She asked.

I scratched my head. Where to even begin?

"Weeeeell..." I muttered.

She then adopted an uncomfortable expression.

"Wait, was it one of those weird adult things I don't wanna know about?"

What?

I think I heard Zena break into a roaring fit of laughter, but I was too busy processing what my daughter had just asked me.

Did she actually think that we were-

NOPE. Nuh-uh, no way. I'm stopping that train of thought right there before-

"Ahh, my love, why do you look so flustered? What could you possibly be thinking about that's got you so worked up, hmmm?"

I felt so much heat rush to my face it felt like it was about to burst into flame.

"Sh-sh-shut up..."

She just laughed even harder.

I took a deep sigh.

"I know you were thinking the same thing, Zena. Don't even try to deny it," I grumbled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" She lied. She wasn't even trying to be believable.

"... Did I say something wrong?" Hailey asked.

"Oh, absolutely not, my dear!" Zena beamed, staring at me with a smug grin, "You were just asking a simple, innocent question!"

I let out a sharp wheeze at the absurdity of what she just said.

"Yeah... 'Innocent'... Okay..."

"Oof... what I said must've been really bad if he's that discombobulated. Sorry, Dad," Hailey muttered in embarrassment.

"It's... fine, Hailey," I sighed, "Like she said, you were just asking a question. No harm, no foul, I guess."

"Ooookay then..."

"Now can we PLEASE change the freaking subject?!" I shouted.

Zena giggled.

"Although this was fun, that's probably a good idea.," She said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God.

Time to do everything in my power to forget that ever happened.

I took a few more seconds to calm myself down before starting.

"So, no, we were not talking about some 'adult thing'-"

Zena giggled, and Hailey smirked.

"-we were discussing a very serious concern I had about a sequence of events that happened earlier," I began.

"What 'sequence of events?'" Hailey asked, mocking my voice as she quoted me.

"Remember when we had to go look for Zena in the Twilight Bell?" I asked,

"Oh, yeah... that was really weird."

"Very much so. That day left me with some worries at the back of my mind, that slowly started growing and growing as I processed what had happened more and more. None of the events that took place that day made any sense," I explained, "Why did Badge Seller say she'd act differently in there? And why did he know nothing else about it other than just that? How'd he even know in the first place? Why did she stay in there waaaay longer than she said she would? And lastly, why was she so difficult to wake up?"

Hailey adopted a thoughtful stance.

"Maybe she just fell into a really deep sleep? And Badge Seller is weird, you know that," She countered, "She was fine after she woke up!"

"Yeah. After."

She frowned in disapproval.

"Now, again, for a while I merely brushed it off as something strange that would probably be explained later, and even up until recently I was willing to turn a blind eye to it in case I was just worrying too much, like I usually do, but..."

I sighed. Now she might get worried.

"Last night, I had a dream. I was in a white void, and walked around for a while, before black cracks began to appear and spiderweb across the white infinity, until after a while, a dark, ethereal, ridiculously large tentacle monster with seven menacing white eyes burst through and plunged the whole place into darkness."

"Aaaand?"

"It told me that I'd made a huge mistake, and talked about how it had an interest in Zena, wanting to claim her as its own. Apparently I'd somehow prevented it from doing so. It warned me to stay away from her, or it'd... uh... it'd kill both of us. It also grabbed me and crushed me in one of its tentacles... and I felt it. It hurt a lot."

"I feel pain in my dreams all the time!" She laughed.

Oh.

I guess it was just a psychological thing, then.

"Buuut... I usually can't even remember my dreams very well. That's really weird that you remembered that so clearly."

I frowned. So that meant it definitely wasn't just a side effect of this universe.

"I don't usually, either. The only times I've been able to remember dreams in the past were when they had some sort of impact on the real world, whether it be me projecting myself to another universe, or... something else," I explained, "So naturally, this made me a bit nervous."

"And you didn't tell me?" She pouted.

"Cause I was going to talk to her and felt it'd be better to tell you after our discussion. Hence why I made you wait outside. Because trying to keep you from panicking while having a calm discussion with her would be impossible," I assured her.

She crossed her arms, but said nothing.

I looked over at Zena, inviting her to speak.

"At the time, I thought nothing of what happened that day," She began, "I didn't know how hard you'd tried to get me to snap out of my trance, I didn't even know I was gone for so long. I just thought it was a normal day and normal session for me, as I usually get lost in prayer quite often... but not that lost. When Markus brought all that information to me... well, we all know that he worries too much, but I admit his fears may be warranted here. I can't give a proper explanation for all this."

Hailey's eyes widened.

"With all of the information I've collected, everything I've seen, heard, and encountered, as well as what I'd heard from Zena, the only current explanation I can think of is that there's some dark entity in that realm that's preying on her mind when she goes there to pray," I informed her, "What makes it especially concerning is that she'd be at her most vulnerable, and yet we'd have no way of protecting her."

"But shouldn't you have, like, some spells or charms that could keep dark spirits away?" Hailey asked.

Oh. Why didn't I think of that?

She is a Mage of Light, a dark entity would be very weak to her...

I gasped.

That's the only reason why it hasn't taken her over yet!

"What?" Hailey asked.

"It all makes sense now!" I shouted, "Zena, you're a Mage of Light, right?"

"Yes?"

"Well, if you have powers of light, then an entity of darkness would be very weak to you, yes?"

"Yes, banishing darkness is what we do best," She said.

She then adopted a frown.

"If only you had fought the Empress while I fought your shadow. I could have dealt with it easily," She groaned, "But I guess the stars didn't line up that way."

She then shook her head.

"Well, anyway, that's what makes me the best guardian for Alpine Skyline. Evil in general is weak to light magic, but beings made entirely of shadow basically dissolve to it," She said.

Explains why I kicked Darkus' ass so easily with that potion of hers.

"Well, that's probably the only reason why this entity hasn't been able to do anything serious to you... yet," I said, "It's struggling to get past your light powers, and can thus only affect you enough to dampen your senses."

"If it exists, it shouldn't be able to even touch me, even when I'm praying," She said, "It would have to be unfathomably powerful to put me in a sleep like that..."

I didn't like that word choice.

"How... how powerful are we talking here?" I asked.

She adopted a thoughtful look, before adopting a nervous smile and letting out a small timid giggle.

If even she was that worried...

"Well, Markus... let's just say that it would require... ah... godly levels of power."

My whole body turned to ice.

'GODLY'?

Nonononono... that can't be right...

I must be misunderstanding this...!

"So... just to be sure we're on the same page here..." I wheezed, "If it exists... it's a... it's actually a FREAKING GOD?!"

Zena closed her eyes.

"I'm afraid so."

I crashed into a chair again.

"But... it's still not guaranteed that it's even real yet," She said.

"Yeah... yeah... that's true... but at this point I'll be shocked if there's any other explanation for this," I panted.

"So... if this thing... if it's real... what... what can we do about it?" Hailey asked in near panic.

"When I go back to Alpine Skyline, I will research what I can about this theoretical evil deity," Zena stated, "We'll need to know exactly what we're dealing with if it exists."

"I'll find Badge Seller and Traveler and discuss the issue with them," I declared, "If anyone would know something about it, it's them. Heck, I'll even talk with Snatcher about it."

"That's a good idea," Hailey agreed, "That way, we're sure to find out something about this, right?"

"Mhm," I replied, "... You know, there's a quote from my old world that I quite like."

"Oh? What is it?" She asked.

"'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.'"

They both seemed confused.

It made me feel uncomfortable. I should probably explain...

"The person who made that quote was an ancient military general, but I feel like it applies to all facets of life. Knowing what you'll be dealing with, and knowing what you're even able to deal with in the first place, is extremely important for any obstacle you face," I explained, "It certainly applies here, too."

"Since when were you so philosophical?" Zena asked.

I merely shrugged.

Hailey giggled.

"Anything I can do to help?" She asked.

"Do you know anyone else that might be able to help us?" Zena asked.

"Other than that Moonjumper guy, I don't think so," She said, "And I don't exactly wanna go looking for him."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be smart, given where he, uh, hangs out," I muttered, "Well, I guess just be patient. Your time will come."

"Okay," She replied with a smile.

I was a little bit surprised.

I was expecting her to be bummed out about having to sit out for now, cause she always wants to be helping, but she wasn't. She was completely okay with it. Huh.

"That sounds like a completed plan, then," Zena stated contently.

"Mhm," I agreed.

A grin came to my face.

"We'll get to the bottom of this, one way or another."

A/N: Well, that was quite the chapter. Let's break it down.

So, Zena has no answers for Markus' questions. She even admits that it's very probable that his fears may be real (and yet both she and Hailey wonder why he's always so on edge).

But there's still a lot they have to do before they can come to a real conclusion, still not enough information to give a concrete answer. Hopefully Zena will get out of the hospital quickly so that she can do some research.

But alas, this was a long time coming, so it's about time we get one of her many mysteries unraveled.

I was originally gonna address two of her mysteries in this chapter, but I decided that dealing with even one was plenty enough. Starting on two would've been way too much to process from one chapter. Maybe next chapter? Or maybe it'll be a while yet? I dunno. We'll see what works best.

Whatever I do, I'll try to make sure it's not too much of an information overload. I know that can be a big problem in most forms of media.

... No reviews this time (obviously), so that's everything.

I'll see you all next time.