I got another chapter here to be read. Hopefully it's great enough to draw in more of your interest.
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       He seemed to be no more than a child which was what caused Ara to hesitate a bit, but as she kept her gaze on this newcomer, she could tell that he was far more dangerous that a child. His attire and one unusual eye gave that away along with his words upon meeting them. Ara could also sense the strange aura that radiated from her and it gave her the feeling of fear. The laugh that the child gave them creeped her out even more.

       For a second, she considered retrieving Eun but the hairpin was in the bag that she had fastened to her back. "Ara...run," Add said as he slowly stood up with Dynamo in his arms. "Run where? You're trapped," the child said with a tilted head and a sly smile. Ara just stood there with her spear still pointed at the child. "What do you want from us? Why are you here?" Add asked as his invention circled him as if waiting for the command to attack.

       The child laughed again. "You, to be another version of me, are very clueless aren't you," the child said. A realization struck Ara as the child said these words. He looked just like Add did when he was younger if you took out the fact that one of his eyes was diffetent and his outfit was dark themed. "What are you talking about?" Add growled, his invention letting out a few sparks to match his unease.

       "We are the same person. I'm just from a different timeline and you are taking my place. Mother should be caring about me, not the likes of you. You don't know what she went through but I do and for that reason, I must get rid of you," the child snapped. Ara was speechless, not exactly understanding, or rather not believing, what was happening until she thought back on what had been going on. "You're the reason my mother hates me. You caused the gap in time did you," Ara said.

       Add glanced at her, slight curiosity in his eyes. "How nice of you to realize that. I am indeed responsible for everything that has taken place today, including your family's death. It was going to happen eventually, but I just needed to speed time up a little bit. You reminded me of someone that tried to talk me out of my goal. I didn't like that so I decided to invite you to the party along with this timeline's version of me. Hm? That face you're making. Could it be that you want to kill me?" the child said, ending it all with laughter.

       Ara was shaking with rage as she glared at the child. Wanting to kill him was an understatement at the moment. "Ara, don't," Add said, his voice soft and calming which was very unusual for him. Ara looked at him and saw fear in his eyes as he stared back at her which startled her. "You still didn't quite answer my question so I'll ask you again. What do you want from us?" Add said as he looked back at the child. The child laughed at him for a bit before answering.

        "Why that's simple. I'm going to get rid of you two and live forever with mother," the child said. It was such small movement but Ara noticed it. Add was slowly inching backwards, away from the crazy child. "You don't have to do that. Killing someone isn't the solution to your problem," Ara said. The child tilted his head at her. "You're right. It's not the solution...but it is a last resort. Have fun trying to survive this year's harsh cold. I heard that it's the worst it's been in years," the child said and bursted into maniacal laughter.

       Before Ara or Add could do anything, a very unusual hole appeared under them both and they fell through it. "With your presence now eliminated from my sight, I can now be more than the Mad Paradox that I am!" the child said which was of course followed by laughter. Ara could care less though. She was frightened as she and Add fell through the shadowy darkness that occasionally showed a flash of purple.

       A sudden force pushed her away from Add and she yelped, not wanting to be separated from him. He noticed and tried to reach out to her but just as he did, Add disappeared with a flash of white light. Before Ara could react, a light similar to it blinded her and she was forced to close her eyes. A sudden cold front shocked her senses but she refused to open her eyes, fearing what she might see if she did. Her fall came to a sudden halt as she came in contact with what felt a lot like snow.

       Pain spiraled through her and she held back her whimpers as she opened her eyes. It was indeed snow that she landed in but as she looked around, there was no way that she could have been anywhere near her village. There were no bamboo stalks. Instead, there were trees scattered throughout the area. Ara was at least glad that she didn't land on one of them. She found her spear next to her, assuming that it had slipped out of her grasp as she fell.

       Ara sat up and took in her surroundings, slightly shivering from the intense cold. It was then that she realized that Add was nowhere to be found and she panicked, automatically thinking the worst. Being alone in the freezing cold was not something Ara was very fond of. She grabbed her spear and used it to help her stand up. She still did not see anyone as she looked around. She didn't know where she was, so calling for help wasn't the best of options but it was one of her only options.

       Her second option was much better and she immediately took off the bag that she had and went through it, finding the cloth that held the hairpin where Eun resided. As Ara took out the cloth and closed the bag, she heard something. She kept still in order to listen for the sound again. It was faint but Ara was sure that someone was calling her and the only other person she could think would do that in a situation such as this was Add.

       She stood with the bag over her shoulder, hairpin safely concealed in the cloth in her hand, and spear in the other hand as she waited for Add to call her again. The sound was a little louder this time. "Add!" Ara called back. There was no response for a bit so Ara kept still and listened. Again, her name was called and Ara was able to hear the general direction of Add's voice so she started to walk that way. "Add, I'm over here!" she called as she began to walk a little faster.

       She was still sore from her fall so running wasn't an option at the moment. "Ara?!" Add called again, his voice much closer this time. Just as Ara was about to call out to him again, he appeared in the horizon, seemingly floating rather than standing. Ara knew that it had to be his invention that causing this affect. He didn't seem to see her just yet so she called him again and he looked in her direction. His invention carried him right over to her and she could see the relief in his eyes when he was close enough for her to look into them.

       "Are you okay?" he asked as he jumped off of his invention. He still held Dynamo but the coat that Ryu had given him was nowhere to be found. "I'm perfectly fine. You're cold aren't you though. We can't stay out here like this. We have to find shelter somehwere," Ara said. Now that she wasn't alone, she felt a lot safer. "Do you even know where we are? The village is gone, there are trees everywhere," Add said.

       "I thought you might know since you travelled a lot when you were younger. No time to waste though. We need to keep moving even though we don't know where we are or else this cold with kill us before starvation or thirst will," Ara said as she turned away from him and looked around for a direction to start walking in. "What if there's a village nearby and we end up walking away from it rather than to it?" Add asked. "Well we can't stay here," Ara said.

       Add had a point so she didn't exactly know what to do but a certain someone might. "Hold this bag for a second," Ara said as she took it off and handed it to Add. "What are you about to do?" Add asked. "I need to see if Eun knows anything. She could help me out," Ara said. "Who's Eun?" Add asked as Ara unwrapped her hairpin. All she had to do was touch it right? "Eun is the one that saved my life," Ara explained before picking up the hairpin.

       Just as she did, her world went black and again she found herself jolting awake in the same place she had met Eun the first time. "I am glad to see you. You had me worried there for a second. If you'd left me behind, you'd be in some serious trouble. I'm assuming you came here for my assistance," Eun said. "Yeah, my head hurts," Ara muttered as she rubbed her head. Eun gave her a slight laugh that was far more pleasant than the laugh of the child that caused all of this.

       "That's because you aren't used to me taking you over just yet. The headache will go away eventually. For now, you should focus on getting somewhere safe. There is indeed an area nearby where people reside. I'd say it's a city rather than a village. The place is beautiful during the winter season, ah but you don't care about that right now. Yes, that's right, you need shelter. There is a fox burrow on the way there. It will take you some time to get to it but it will be well worth it. If and when the fox that lives there comes back, just let me handle it," Eun said as she stood to bow to Ara before disappearing.

       "But what direction am I supposed to go in?" Ara asked. "West," Eun answered before leaving Ara in darkness once more. Ara just closed her eyes, knowing that the darkness would hurt them. "Dammit, Ara, I'm serious! This isn't funny. Wake up!" Add could be heard saying. Ara jolted awake finding herself being held by Add. "We have to go west. We'll find shelter that way," Ara said.

       "What? You aren't even going to tell me what the hell just happened?" Add said as he let Ara get her spear and stand. The hairpin was still in her hand so she took it and placed it in her hair so that she could get to Eun much easier later on. "I'll explain on the way. Come on, we need to go," Ara said as she began leading the way, leaving a very annoyed and confused Add to follow after her.
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Welp, now that that's done, I've got more to do so until next time you fantastic readers!