"The world was closing on us, little by little, I believe I was the last person to ever think it was possible."
She told me, at that point, her eyes were bloody red, she was on the verge of letting out a tear, but I didn't really care so much, I still held the recorder, as steady as I can, I have only one session left with her, I must make the most of it.

"What is it?" I asked, inquiring the explanation for her last sentence.

"Boundaries can melt" She said.

"What boundaries?" I asked.

"The ones separating our worlds, they can seize to exist, or they can melt both worlds ..together"

Ilusia, house of smoke.

The reality of the situation was a terrifying one. Conclusions were rushing like spears into Merit's heads, but there was nothing she can do, at that moment, she was already in Jen's grip.

It was the same scenery. The sky raining flags, the sun swallowed by the blackened clouds, static noise in the horizon and empty grounds by the liberation square where Merit stood in her own sweat in blood, not confused, but angry.

"You must have so many questions." Jen said, his voice breaking out of the static.

"You-you couldn't have possibly lied to me ..for all this long." Merit shouted at the sky, as if she was addressing a god.

"I didn't, and I did. But I never used you, you willingly took part in the game, remember?" He said, as Merit violently walked over the sea of flags, she felt like she was searching for Jen, but how can she search for a body-less sound?

"What game?! The one involving me taking a journey to the filth of the world and killing a child for the sake of something that doesn't even exist?!" Merit shouted.

"Elijah's death was inevitable, if Lydia didn't kill him, he would have killed himself either way." Jen said, "Lydia..the one I asked you to revive, was a traitor after all, yet, you didn't even tell me!!" Merit cried.

"Lydia is not a traitor, in fact, she's still very useful. Poor child wanted to pay the debt her father left behind, you can't really blame her." Jen said,

"There's no map then, there's nothing I can do for you anymore"

"You don't need a map anymore, Merit. Corelight is in your reach, you just have to..follow..the-the s-igns"

The static broke through Merit's ears, leaving her paralyzed, and at last, Jen left.

Ilusia, Willies' Antherford's office.

"He arrived..?" Willies calmly said, letting down the bottle of wine, he sighed and sat down on his grand chair, a flicker in his eyes was put off, his face became dark.

"They sent him without our permission, but we can't get in his way. He's already opposing us, he killed one of the black hate agents ..and.." Troy said, clearing his throat.

"We believe he took hold of the camera.." Troy said, lowering his voice tone and gluing his eyes to the ground.

"Its happening.." Willies cried, "They're doing it, and we don't even have a choice." He continued.

"At this moment, the public eye means nothing, the camera is worthless." Troy said, approaching Willies' desk as he sobbed helplessly, "We must leave." Troy said, close to Willies, Willies let Troy's words sunk in and
sighed in despair, taking a sip from the bottle of wine. He was helpless, and hopeless.

"Fine. We are leaving.."

Ilusia, the drunken alleys.

Through the waddling drunkards and clouds of drugs merged with the irritating smell of alcohol, the alleys were home for the forbidden lust of the night, men and women of all ages committed atrocities in these slightly nonexistent portals. As the night swallowed their sanity, and the booze wiped their conscience bit by bit, a single man burst through them, madly pushing everyone away with his unbuttoned shirt and bruised face. Blood was dripping off his mouth and eyes, his world was being shattered.

What was he looking for? Or what was he running to or from? When the sun goes down, the night opens its arms wide to its children, sheltering them from the daylight lucidity they feared, but this particular soul was running away from the night and its shadows, doing his best to flee the dark and perhaps find a way to light.

"He-he is- is going to do i-it fuck, fuck it all!" He muttered, crying and breaking down as he felt the alleys narrowing down on him.

His world was shrinking.

"We must get out!! Help me!!" He cried in pain as he begged a drunken man lying in the corner of the alley, the man could only look at him in sympathy, "And who's going to get me out?" He laughed, ushering the young man to go away.

"You don't understand, he's here!! It's over!! We can't stay here anymore!" He cried again, falling down on his knees, the drunken man laughed and batted on the young one's shoulder, "Whoever you are taking about, I believe it has been all over for-" The man said, pausing as he had a hiccup, "Nevermind, go home boy, you surely don't want your parents catching you like that, huh?"

"There's no home to go back to anymore.." He cried, the drunken man's restful face turned concerned, he grew more serious as he lifted the young man's chin up, "Andy, who did this to you?" He said, it was now apparent that the two did in fact know each other, and Andy wasn't seeking light, after all.

"Willies sent his men after all of us, and not just that, he-he f-" The young man called Andy stuttered in panic as he looked deep into the man's eyes, "What's it?" The man calmly asked with a fire in his heart that even the alcohol can never subdue.

"They found him, or he found us...Jacob"

"It can't be." The old man gasped, eyes wide opened and eyes burning with acid tears, "The Ghostman has arrived?!" He cried, starring at Andy in disbelief.

"Redemption day is coming.."

Ross' office, Ilusia, Viribus airships.

In the midst of the most luxurious airship that was just finished being constructed, Ross sat on a desk in its vast hall. On his wheelchair, he was glaring at a picture within his hands with anger and contempt.

"Look at us now, Forger. Plotting to kill each other before daylight." Ross said, holding the picture which was a picture of the revolutionists including their leader, Forger, the one that sparked the flame.

"But one of us must win so the others can be at peace." He said, taking out his pen and slowly painting a young man's face out, he was so dead serious on painting that pale face entirely out of the picture, and with each bit of ink, Ross' black soul was entwining with its flow, pouring down the burning hate into a flood of dark dots over an old picture that grew thinner and thinner with each line, by the time he was finished, George's face was no more, but Ross' contempt was still there, damaging him from the inside.

And as he was exhaling the fire inside, the doors were wide opened and no one other than Lady Jackie burst in with a frowned face and an angry temper, as usual.

"You're doing it, Ross! You're actually doing it!" Cried Jackie as she got closer to Ross like a hurricane, storming the newly polished airship with nothing but burning red eyes.

"It must be done, you and I both know it." Ross said, avoiding her fierce eyes.

"We agreed on leaving them behind, which does count as betrayal..But..We can't kill George! This is not how we solve things, Ross..Don't let your anger overtake you."

"Listen here, you know nothing but this scum, all of you pretend to have sympathy for me, but its just the same empty words I always hear that I know none of you mean. Five years ago, I lost everything, and Its him who is responsible. George betrayed us five years ago, and to this day, he hasn't even considered washing himself clean. He has abused recruits, stole manuscripts, sell us to the black hats, what's there for us to still value that piece of garbage, Jackie?!"
Ross burst in anger, surprising Jackie with his screaming, she walked back in shock, unable to process what Ross' had said to her, all she can do is stare at his red face and teary eyes, in nothing but shame.

"George ..betrayed us? F-five years a-go?" Jackie stuttered, eyes turning enraged, slowly directing that anger into Ross' calm face, who can only replay with a sigh and a nod.

"He's the one who did ..it..?"

"Sold us for pennies, I suppose. Wasn't even a tough decision, I think. He gave them the codes and confirmed our names, just like that..He sold us."

"How did you find out..?"

"I visited him a while ago to see an old friend, this is when I got to see the mess he made in Izora, but also, I got to have some time alone in his office, he had a big stack of codes in his desk, the ones we were missing.. he didn't even try to hide it. It was there, in plane sight."

Jackie sat still on the chair facing Ross with the wound clear on her face, she was close to George in their youth, betrayal had left her almost paralyzed and still, unable to argue with Ross, because even for a while, she did believe George was never on their side.

"Fine." She said after few minutes of silence. "Do it, quick, Eddie is ready to go to Izora." She continued, getting up and eager to exit the airship while Ross just nodded, and as she left him, Ross' mind was filled with the worst of thoughts.

But in the in the end, in this calamity, a soul is only valuable to its owner.

Ilusia, unknown location.

Merit woke up in a puddle of her blood and vomit, her vision was still blurry and she can feel how weak her body has become, she was in a fight or flight mode, ready to attack, but at the same time, she can hardly move her eyes.

That smell was very familiar to her.

"Pie.." She stuttered, focusing her entire senses on the source of that pleasant smell, but soon, she regretted doing so, because as soon as she had regained her consciousness, her clear vision of the mess she had become was apparent in the opposite mirror.

That place was not familiar.

"Where am I?!" She whispered to herself, she was sure she's not in that house anymore, however, she can confirm one thought, someone is right besides her, and that person was intensely starring at her, Merit slowly turned her head to the left, and once she did, her eyes fell on someone, Merit gasped and jumped out of the bed, and that person could only giggle while they sat still.

"You- you are.." Merit stutterrd, looking at the person with a very concerned and almost terrified look, "Menda!" She shouted, finally recognizing the old lady who let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Merit move.

"To be honest, I thought you were dead.." Menda giggled again, ushering Merit to sit down on the clean chair. Merit couldn't help but feel secure in this warm place and Menda's presence. Menda had always been a source of comfort to Merit ever since she met her, and she never knew why.

Menda's giggles always made Merit question her age, those wrinkles and weary body proved were not befitting to her childish laugh, but this wasn't the time to think about it.

"How did I even get here..?" Merit asked, ignoring Menda and moving around the room, inspecting it and its strange decorations that seem so odd to Merit.

"Well, I don't think this is the time for us to discuss this." Menda said, still sitting on the chair while Merit walked around the blue room decorated with strange artifacts and statuses, although they were beautiful, they made a mess in the room, as if it was a warehouse. The room was filled with theae statuses, one of them was of a man carrying a tourch that had a heart within it and blood dripping out of it, the details were put accurately, just like every other artifact and statue.

"No, tell me, I won't rest till I know." Merit protested, aggressively addressing Menda who sighed and still asked her to sit down.

"He sent you here." Menda calmly said. "Huh? Who do you mean?" Merit said, her heart beating like a drum, how can Menda possibly know about Jen?

"I'm not oblivious to the world around me." Menda said, "Neither am I oblivious to your own little world." Menda continued, and Merit could only stare in hope of decoding Me da's words in confusion.

"You mean, you know everything?"

"Quite frankly, Merit, me and jen are very, very close."

And as Merit felt the shock of the reaction, Menda was calm and smiling warmly to calm Merit's anxious heart.

Ross swears to cleanse the world of filthy not realizing the betrayal he will commit, and as a coward, Willies leaves everything behind him and runs away as the world is on fire, Merit now faces the tide alone, terrified of what's to come.

The world is merciless, it no longer shelters children. It throws them into the bit and watches as they crawl out like monsters, erasing the innocence they've ever had.