Day 9 - Part 2
On the other side of the lava pool, Ari was sitting with her back against a large stone rock. Both her arms were stretched out, with nails driven through her palms. Her legs were tied together, and she was hunched over breathing heavily. Next to her was a person wearing a large brown robe that covered their entire body holding two daggers, one in both hands. Right when I blew my cover to see what was going on, their eyes locked mine without any hesitation.
"Ah, so this is the infamous Red."
"Let Ari go!"
"Hahaha, are you really in the position to be giving me commands? One false move and I end you're friend's game right now."
"Well can you at least tell me what's going on?"
"That much isn't necessary. I'm going to give you three options, and you have the ability to choose which one comes true. Option one: Stab your sword through your heart. Since this is by my will, it will count as a real death, and your game will end. Option two: Agree to doing whatever I say no matter what it is. Even if it's as drastic as option one. Option three: You try to save your friend, and I kill her before your eyes. Choose wisely, and choose fast. She doesn't have much more time left."
That was it. I lost. There's no way I could kill myself-I've already decided that I need to win so I can stop the one that threw us in here. Also if I did what they said, it would probably be worse than killing myself. I can't allow my being to be controlled by someone that evil. And the last option was the worst of them all... Watch Ari be killed right in front of me? The only person I had ever known and loved in my entire conscious life? There's no way I could let that happen. But then what do I do? I can't openly admit defeat... and suddenly an idea hit me square in the face. It was far from anything I wanted to do, but it was my only shot.
"OK, kill her."
"...What?"
"I said you can kill her. There's no way out of this cave besides the one I'm guarding, so the second you kill her is the same second I kill you."
"...but I thought you would-"
"You thought I would what? Give up the entire game at the cost of one girl? Ha! Don't make me laugh. Now listen up. You may think you're in the driver's seat here, but your not. In fact, I can erase your existence at any moment I want to. It's not even that you have nothing over me, but I have everything over you. The way I see it, two different events could take place here. Either you kill Ari and I kill you, which would mean two less obstacles in my way, or you hand over Ari and I allow you to live."
"Do you really think you can get away just like that?! I planned this all! I made sure everything was perfect! You should be shaking with defeat right now, so how? Don't you care for the girl at all? You'd really throw her away?"
"Try me"
"but... even if I let Ari go, how do I know you wouldn't kill me right after?"
"I guess you'll need to trust me. Now which will it be? Do you want to die? Or do you want to live? The choice is yours."
The wait seemed to take forever, so long I began to think they were crazy enough to still kill Ari even after everything I said, but eventually the silence stopped.
"Okay. You win. Just sheathe your sword and slowly walk around the lava pool with your hands on your head. When you make it half way around the pool, I'll leave through the other side... and also don't think this is over. You may have won this round, but the game is just beginning.
And with that everything cooled down... or so I thought. Apparently Ari had been awake the entire time, and she didn't enjoy listening to me talk like that.
"Ari! Are you alright?"
*sobbing "Do you really think that? All that stuff you said... it sounded like you hate me."
"Of course not! Ari, please understand me! The only reason I said those things is because I care for you! You're the only person in my entire life that I have any memory of. Do you really think I would give you up just like that?"
"But... you gambled... with my life..."
"Ari, you're bleeding! Just quiet down and let me carry you back to the tree house- we can talk about this in the morning."
Ari fell asleep sometime while I was carrying her, so right now she's asleep in her bed. It's already well past midnight, and the mobs are out roaming around, but I still can't get to sleep. If anything like that happens to Ari again, I'm not sure I could save her. It was hard enough this time, and I don't want to be forced into a position where I need to be like that in front of Ari again.
Also I need to meet that person again, who I now believe needs to be the seventh player. Somehow they knew far more than anyone here should, so they're the biggest lead I have on finding out about my past life.
I need to get to sleep now so I can fully explain everything to Ari in the morning. Good night Ari, and I pray you can still be the same happy-go-lucky person even after everything that's happened.
A/N: And so the craziness ends(for now). Sorry about not being able to send in another chapter yesterday, but lately I've been dedicating so much time to homework and watching a gaming tournament that's going on, that i have almost no time at all for having fun. I'm going to try to get a schedule going sometime soon so I can be sure to update this regularly, but for now I'll keep trying my hardest. Also any reviews or PM's having to do with One Lonely Survivor are greatly appreciated!