A hint of deja vu hit me and I looked at Mirror, disoriented.

"Have you told me that before?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Nope." she merely said. She thought for a while,"Did you do something to your pendant?" I took out my pendant and showed it to her. She looked at it. "What's with the ring?" I took the ring off the pendant.

"The nurse found it and gave it to me." I said,"Do you know who this belongs to?"

"Possibly." she said vaguely,"You keep it for now."

"Okay...?" I said wondering who she was thinking about.

"Anyways, you going to play or not?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, yeah." I asked. I swiped 'yes' and entered like usual. I appeared in my ripped white gown and shackles in front of Rita's old abandoned shop.

"Welcome back, meow!" Eclipse said on my shoulder. I smiled at her.

"Hi, Eclipse." I said and gave her a small pat on the head,"Any plans on where I should go next?"

"Actually, I've been feeling strange ever since you left. I feel dizzy and sick." Eclipse confessed.

"Does this have to do with the worlds merging?" I asked. She arched her back.

"The worlds are merging?! As in becoming one world full of humans and the mirror world?!" she asked. I nodded.

"It seems so." I said.

"That's bad!" she said. Eclipse looked around cautiously then whispered,"Mirror wanted this to happen, she's going to do something really horrible, I'm sure of it. But why are they merging now?" I nodded agreeing with her.

"How come you seem so lifelike? Aren't you a bot that Mirror created?" I asked. Eclipse blinked.

"I am real. We aren't bots, Mirror has the ability to create life." Eclipse said. I frowned.

"But she told me that... they were just bots." I said quietly. The realization of what I'd done crept up on me,"So, I killed living beings?"

"Why do you think their pain sounds so real?" Eclipse said,"Their agonizing screams and cries. They're only killing to live, Alice. They're the same as you, but they're chained to this world by Mirror, they can't escape. Not until now." Eclipse sat looking at me with her big unblinking eyes. My throat tightened and I couldn't speak.

"I..." I barely forced out. Eclipse shook her head.

"You were naive. People learn from their mistakes and they grow stronger from them, so will you." she said,"Now, let's get going!" She pointed her tiny paw forward and I did as I was told. We began wandering in a calm silence. It was a cool day, the sun shining ever so brightly, blinding my eyes. We stopped in a nearby market place. I sat on a bench resting with Eclipse lying on my lap. Eclipse played with my shackles and I swiped for my data screen.

Total Amount of Coins: 2,250

In my inventory, a display of my old bloody clothes showed, but nothing other than that.

In my weapon stock, I had my scythe, the daggers, the gun, the axes, the knife, and Rita's blades.

I explored what I could do with the data screen and I found out I could make a map appear. A yellow arrow pointed down at a market, 'You are here' it read. A red arrow pointing to a castle farther from the market read, 'The Castle of Murders'. I swiped the map away and found a bounty screen. A display of faces aligned in many rows were shown. I found a familiar face and I tapped it. It enlarged and information popped up with it.

Rita Kerrigan

Diamond

Deactivated (Deceased)

Bounty Cost: 1,100 Coins

Killed by Alice Wisteria.

I minimized that screen and went back to the rows of other bounties. I frowned as I swiped to the next page, looking for a face. My face. I stopped as soon as I found me. I hesitantly pressed it and my information popped up with an enlarged picture of me.

Alice Wisteria

Player

Active

Bounty Cost: 1,500 Coins

I swiped at it quickly as soon as I was done reading my bounty. I sighed heavily.

"You have quite a bounty on you." Eclipse said,"A lot of people will be after your head now."

"Right right. I'll be more careful from now on." I reassured her. I heard someone sit on the bench directly behind me. They whispered something out loud and I shot up and turned around.

"What's wrong?" Eclipse asked.

"Didn't you hear someone?" I asked looking around the area.

"No, not really. Did you hear someone?" she asked.

"It could have been my imagination." I said and slowly sat back down.

"Bad things will happen in the future, Alice. Be safe. You're our only hope."

It was a girl who had warned me, but she simply vanished before I could see her. She was there, for sure, but hey, I don't know what to believe anymore.

"Ready to go?" Eclipse asked. I nodded and got up.

"Anything we should get here before we leave?" I asked. Eclipse shrugged.

"Might as well go look through the stalls." she said. I lifted her up to my shoulder and she pranced on, looking high and mighty as always. We walked around looking at the cool merchandise they were selling. I ended up buying some clothes, a flask for water, and enhancements for my weapons, leaving me with a total of 1,050 coins.

"Quick question, can you eat in this world?" I asked. Eclipse nodded.

"Well duh, every world has food in it meaning you can eat." Eclipse retorted.

"So if I eat here, I won't feel hungry in my world?" I asked. Eclipse nodded.

"You can eat here and you won't have to eat until you're feeling hungry again." Eclipse said. I nodded eyeing the crepe stand very intensely.

"Go for it, Alice." Eclipse said,"Everyone has to eat at least one crepe in their life." My hunger got the best of me and I bought your cliche strawberry dessert crepe with whip cream drizzled with a thick chocolate sauce. Of course, it was delicious, but it left me with 1,000 coins. I let Eclipse have a nibble of some and we finally set off for another adventure.

We drifted off far from the town, currently in the middle of no where. The sun disappeared from the sky leaving the moon to glow brightly in the pitch black night. It was a lot chillier than it was and I couldn't help feeling vulnerable. I had bought a cloak to cover myself from the cold or sun. Eclipse moved from her usual shoulder spot to the top of my head.

"Are you tired?" I asked Eclipse.

"A little." she said sleepily.

"Another question, what happens to you when I leave you?" I asked.

"Well, Mirror doesn't wish for us to roam around without our owners so we're sent to this storage area where we can rest and regain energy. It's not as bad as it sounds, it's actually relaxing." Eclipse said.

"That's nice to know, I guess." I said. We were wandering in a heavily wooded area. It was a lot thicker and dark with a dirt path leading us to some unknown place. We walked in total silence except for occasional bird call. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Hey, Eclipse." I whispered.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"What is that?" I asked. Standing a couple yards from us was a figure. I didn't know that he was standing there until the clouds drifted away from the moon and the moonlight fell onto him like a spotlight. He was tall and skinny with pale skin. He crouched down on all four, standing still as if waiting for someone... His eyes were endless black holes and his mouth were full of sharp crooked teeth. He had a long neck and you could see his rib cages and spines. He had long hands and feet with claw like nails at the end of each toe and finger. His nose were just two slits on his face. He stared at me without uttering a single sound. I didn't dare move until I was certain he wouldn't come after me.

"A-Alice..." Eclipse whispered,"I-I just realized..."

"What is it...?" I whispered.

"Mirror sometimes experiments on the dead corpses here. These woods are where they are kept..." Eclipse said.

"And?" I asked.

"People who have wandered in here... are never are seen again." Eclipse said. I looked down, my hair covering my eyes.

"Yeah, so?" I asked.

"Aren't you a bit afraid?" Eclipse asked.

"If I'm scared now, how am I suppose to beat Mirror at her game?" I asked, there was a glow and a scythe appeared in my hands. I gripped onto it tightly and took a deep breath,"I can't always rely on Malice, right?" I looked up straight ahead and stared deeply into the creature's limitless eyes. With that, the creature opened his mouth, exposing more crooked fangs, and came charging at me at full speed. 

Before I knew what was happening, the creature had pushed me down onto the ground, he pushed against my scythe, his horrifying disfigured face in front of mine. He screamed at me and my heart raced in fear. He raised one of his long arms ready to strike down at me.

Get a hold of yourself, Alice.

I clenched my scythe with one hand and summoned a gun. I pulled the trigger and the shot rang out through the woods. The creature screamed again, but this time in pain. He stepped back from me, and swiped at my face, scratching my cheek, marking it with three claw marks. I grimaced at the pain, but I got back up, stepping back. The bullet hit his chest and where the hole was, black liquid oozed out, dripping onto the dirt ground. Blood dripped from my cheek and the cut burned. The creature regained its composure and ran back towards me, it knocked me against a tree and I began to feel dizzy from the impact. Everything was blurry in my eyes and I began seeing double. I could see it stalking towards me, closer and closer.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You knocked up Alice quite a bit, big guy." I said standing back up. I shook my head and I turned my attention to the creature. He stopped a bit and observed me. I cracked my neck and stretched my arms,"She was doing well for her first actual fight, but if it was with... a normal person, I'm sure she wouldn't have needed my help." The creature eyed me carefully. I began walking towards it, swinging the scythe with my right hand. I noticed that the scythe looked a bit larger then before and the blade was sharper. Alice got it upgraded is what I can tell. We walked in circles, eyeing each other, waiting until the other strikes first. I grew impatient and pounced at it, it dodged me and stood a few feet away from me. It stood again still, it's head looking around. It sniffed the air and then bolted away. It was running away from something.

"What? That's it?" I asked completely unsatisfied. The burning sensation from where it cut Alice burned even more. I touched my cheek and looked at my fingers. The blood that I touched was black,"What is this?" I felt something crawl up the cloak I was wearing and I took it out. It was the tiny cat.

"Alice?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Malice." I corrected.

"You're cheek, you look infected." she said.

"Then get me uninfected." I said.

"Problem is... I don't know how." Eclipse said.