'How does this thing work... can I tell it to do things for me…' Thinking, Rajeev looked at the Remnant, which was standing like a statue, and commanded it to move forward.
"Go there..."
It followed everything and moved where he was pointing.
Nodding his head, to bring it back, Rajeev didn't say anything aloud and instead commanded through his mind.
Surprisingly, it worked, as the monster came back to him.
'What is the limit… how complex a task can it handle... hmmm!...' Trying to test the limit of the commands, he began testing a few new things.
A few minutes later, he was shaking his head, disappointed to find that the monster could only follow basic commands.
It could be told to move forward... it knew how to attack and defend. At most, it could sprint if commanded, and jump as well. But that's it—that was the limit of what it could do.
If told to perform complex fist movements... There would be no response. It just knew how to throw a normal punch. It couldn't perform complex leg movements either.
It was clear there was no mind to the monster. It couldn't think for itself. The [Remnant], it was just the husk of its past self.
'Well, better than nothing at least.' Thinking, he brought the monster close to the hole they were in and gave it a basic command: attack anything if it gets close to the hollow.
Understanding it, the monster positioned itself a bit away from the mushroom tree—to not attract other mushroom monsters—and began guarding it like a statue.
'What should I do now...' he thought, looking at his friends.
Seeing them sleep like that, he decided to relax as well. Letting a puff of warm air out, he leaned back and closed his eyes to have a second for himself.
Rajeev was trying to calm himself, but no matter how far he ran from it... it always caught up to him.
The death, the blood, the screams of his classmates rang in his ears. Everything felt as if it had happened right before his eyes—and in a way, as if it was still happening, over and over again.
Wiping the tears away, he looked at his friends and sighed a bit. He was sad for those who had died... but somewhere deep inside, there was a part of him that was happy as well.
He was happy that none of his close friends had died there.
Rajeev felt guilt... selfish toward himself to feel it like that... but no matter how much he tried not to feel that way, the feeling just won't go away. It was here, and in the end, he had to make amends with it.
He was selfish, and he had to live with that.
"If you are somewhere... may you all rest in peace..." Praying for them, he opened his eyes and looked at the other three.
All of them were still asleep... lost in the worlds of dreams. Realizing he needed to sleep as well, Rajeev got into a comfortable position.
Before lying down, he looked at them once more... this time focusing just on one of them.
'Watcher... what a strange thing to desire...' he thought, glancing at Anjali.
Like the other two, she was deep asleep. As if lost in a paradise, there was a warm smile on her beautiful face. The smile was so contagious that a smile appeared on his face as well.
'I will do it after getting out of here...' Making up his mind, he lay down and closed his eyes.
It didn't take long, and he was deep asleep as well.
***
'What is happening?' Finding his house surrounded by a crowd, the boy rushed toward it.
As he moved closer and closer, he could hear people talking in whispers. He could make out what they were talking about, but... he didn't want to accept it.
'They are wrong…'
He thought, but the whisper didn't stop… No, it only grew stronger.
'No... nooo.' Begging it not to be true, he moved with haste.
The boy tried moving fast, but the crowd was too thick for him to move with ease.
"Move aside... this is my house... please."
"Move...." he shouted and shouted.
Soon, people gave way for him to get close to the center of the crowd. As he moved closer and closer, he began to smell something. There was a faint smell of blood, and he could taste the wind blowing in his face.
"Get away..."
As he took his final step... the boy stopped in his tracks. His heart stopped beating for a second. The world began to blur as the view in front of him started scattering.
"NOOOOO...."
He didn't want to accept it... But not accepting it didn't change the outcome. It had happened.
In front of him lay the corpse of a woman.
It was the reality. There was nothing he could do anymore. There wasn't a way for him to bring the dead back.
"Nooo, this can't be... I still haven't..."
Before he could complete his words... someone jolted him as the world around him shifted before disappearing into the void completely.
"Ahhhh!" Screaming, he woke up from his dream.
"Rajeev, are you okay?" Anjali asked, looking at him with worried eyes.
Drenched in sweat, he looked around in a daze for a few seconds. Wiping the sweat, he silently stared at her.
"Hey!! Are you okay?" Waving her hand in front of him, she asked for the second time.
Looking at Anjali, he asked, "Of course... why do you ask?"
"Why do I ask?..." she said, lifting one of her eyebrows, "...do you know you were screaming on top of your lungs just now?"
'It hadn't stopped...' Knowing what she could be talking about, he replied with a smile, "Is that?... There is nothing to worry about. It was just a nightmare."
"Ohhh! It can happen in a situation like this... in fact, it is quite normal to have a nightmare," Anjali replied, smiling, assuring there was nothing wrong with him.
"Yes!" he nodded.
"Forget about that... how did we arrive here, and where is that mushroom monster?" Hugo asked, looking at his surroundings with caution.
"I killed it and brought you all here," he replied, still dazed because of the dream.
After taking a few relaxing breaths, Rajeev explained what had happened after they began hallucinating. He told them how he killed the monster and how he brought them here.
He even told them about the Remnant.
"Really…" Anjali asked with excitement.
"Of course… You haven't seen it? Let me show you..." Saying that, he commanded it to come a bit closer to the hole.
As the monster moved toward them, Elysia looked at it with a hint of amusement, "Woah! There is something really poetic about this situation... isn't it?"