As Alex rolled down the cliff like a rock pushed off the edge, he finally realized what he needed to do—he accepted it and chose to fall.
He didn't move at all.
His body was smashed, battered, and broken. He closed his eyes, blood trickling from their corners, gritting what teeth he had left as he surrendered completely.
This place wouldn't harm his physical body. The first time he was here, he had woken up from it without suffering from anything at all.
It never had anything to do with his real body. It was truly all an illusion.
He couldn't even begin to gather his thoughts, but he finally felt his consciousness fade away. He didn't even try to hold back—in fact, all he wanted was to die.
There was a certain part of him that wished this wasn't an illusion. He just wanted it all to end.
Now, his eyes refused to stay open. His skull throbbed and his body broke.
He couldn't even budge. Not even slightly. It felt like his face was being held and dragged and his body being crushed and smashed.
Accepting this outcome, his vision finally went dark. Before it completely went out, he looked at the distant foggy land and trees once more.
He was fascinated by the beauty in front of him.
But, he was already dead.
His corpse must have been crushed, leaving nothing but grizzly meat.
He heard a slight noise before sensation returned to his body, after he had lost all awareness, and his senses came back to him.
He opened his eyes very slowly, as his mind was barely able to even think.
In front of him were Ros and Lara. They looked at him as if he was a living corpse.
Ros stepped closer to him, Lara standing just behind, keeping her wheat-colored eyes locked onto his.
"Are you alright?" Ros asked, stepping closer with a concerned look.
Alex's mind was numb, yet a smile found its way through.
His lips curled up into a smile, and tears started overflowing.
He began crying like a newborn child. It was pathetic. But someone cared, and that shattered him.
He barely made any noise while crying. He just let his tears come out as his breath grew shaky and his body trembled.
He couldn't hold it back—even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to.
Memories flashed in his head. Before he even came to this world, he was bullied. He was lonely. He had no one to lean on, no one to help him figure it all out. He even lost his only friends that cared for him, as well.
And it was even worse when he'd gotten to this world. Why was he always the one who had to suffer?
Ros opened his arms widely before coming even closer and closing them on him as he was still sitting on the ground, crying his eyes out.
He kept sniffing and crying as more and more memories—including the battle with the Hollow—flooded onto him.
Lara watched closely from behind, with a sympathetic expression on her face.
Time passed, and Alex was slowly able to hold himself back from embarrassing himself any further.
The barrier stood still in a circular shape, emitting a faint green light. One look at it and he already knew it was powerful enough to withstand many types of blows.
Lara had her back leaned on the barrier, hugging her knees as she was sitting with her head tilted on one side.
Ros was also sitting down, grabbing hold of his staff as his head was locked on the ground.
Silence hung in the air—there was zero noise. It felt like there was nobody at all.
Then, the slight sound of clothes broke the silence. Alex looked and it was Ros, his eyes were directed at him, and he held an expression that basically meant worry.
"Sorry for that. I wasn't feeling right," Alex reassured.
"You don't have to apologize, but what even happened? That wasn't like you," Ros asked.
Alex frowned as he turned his head down, considering whether he should tell them or not.
"We won't make it out of here unless you start working with us," Lara finally spoke, after a long time of silence.
She was looking away from him, but her words weighed heavily on him.
She seemed to be growing tired of this gloomy and dark place too.
If he couldn't do this, how could he say they were in the same party?
Letting out a sigh before lifting his head up again, he held eye contact as he decided to tell them.
Lara looked at him as he was about to start explaining.
He explained everything thoroughly, as a rough expression overtook his face.
He told them all of it with an excruciating amount of detail, to make them know just how real it all felt, and the mental toll it left on him.
They stayed bitterly silent as he explained everything—from what happened in the snowy field to the cliff illusion.
They shared the same sympathetic, but serious look on their faces after he'd finished talking.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," Ros apologized, then added after slightly tilting his head, "Yet, I haven't heard of something like this before. Even a conceptual ability with an improved Soul Mechanism wouldn't be able to make an illusion seem so… real."
Alex shrugged, mainly because he didn't have much knowledge about Concepts and Soul Mechanisms in general.
He hadn't spent that long collecting information during his time here—it seemed like he had a long way to go.
"I don't know what or how to feel anymore… It might happen again, before I even realize it," he spoke once more, holding his tone. He put aside his thoughts of the Conceptual abilities.
"Then we need to move," Lara stood and brushed the dust from her clothes—more out of habit than need. "Don't forget our main objective," she reminded.
Lara sounded serious, but Alex knew that she wasn't wrong. To stop an illusion from happening again, and complete their mission, he had to also stand on his feet again.
Ros also stepped up as he released his barrier, then he looked at Alex and stretched out his hand, to help him stand.
"Let's go. We're all in this," Ros said, as he had a smile on his face.
Alex's eyes widened—he was surprised, but mostly relieved.
He nodded, sharing a smile with him as he took his hand and got back on his feet.