Eilene's POV

She closed her eyes and shook her head, praying that her eyes were just playing tricks on her but it was really him, really John. His eyes blank with hatred, the black twisting spiral on his forehead. She recalled the last time they saw each other and that's when he turned and fought, almost dying in the process. She couldn't bear another fight with John.

"Uh, how about you take on John while I take on Conor," Eilene suggested to Meilin, "John is very experienced with the sword and it would only makes sense if you fight him since you're very...well experienced."

"That's not happening," Meilin snapped, distrust in her eyes. Eilene tried not to roll her eyes. She probably thought that she was going to kill Conor.

"Whatever," Eilene muttered, "You probably think that I might kill John as well."

"Kill any of them and i'll kill you myself," Meilin warned.

Before Eilene could retort back, she saw Conor running at Meilin with his axe raised. Eilene was about to warn her but she must've seen the alarm in her eyes for she spun around and blocked the axe in time. Both wolves went straight to Ursa while Jhi looked like she was in deep concentration, giving Meilin strength. And that meant she was left alone to fight John once more.

"We meet again, old friend," his voice didn't sound very John-like at all. He looked like a complete stranger.

Eilene reluctantly took out her staff as she faced John, "I don't want to do this."

"Well I do," his voice was cold, "And this time, i'll kill you!"

John ran at her and started swinging his sword. Eilene managed to block them all and roll out the way. At the corner of her eye, she could see Meilin fighting with such incredible speed but every time she tried to block Conor's attacks, she could see her steps waver from the strength. Nearby, she saw Ursa struggling to fight both wolves at the same time while defending Jhi who was deep in concentration, probably giving Meilin all she's got but even Jhi was growing tired.

Her gazed quickly flitted back to John who stroke again. She tried to roll away but the blade cut her arm. She winced as she dropped her staff to clutch her arm. She heard John chuckled darkly.

"You're such a pathetic fighter," he spat, "I don't know what John saw in you."

That's when he froze, panic filling his gaze. He tried hiding it by letting out another laugh but Eilene noticed it.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You're not John."

"What are you talking about?" he scoffed.

"You're not John," Eilene repeated, rising up to stand, "You're controlling him just like how you're controlling Zerif and everyone else who's infected."

"And soon, i'll be controlling you," he suddenly hissed and ran at her.

Eilene ducked down, grabbed her staff then rolled away. She spun around, only to be kicked backwards. The pain on her arm only seemed to grow stronger, weakening her. She crawled backwards as John, or the thing controlling John, started walking towards her. She stopped as she felt her hand reach empty air. She turned around and saw that she had reached the end of the ledge.

"You're trapped now," he growled.

She took a deep breath and spoke, hoping that somehow, the real John might hear her, "John, I know you're still there."

She thought she saw him flinch but she kept going, "You can't give up now, John. You're a Keeper, you're stronger than him, the Wyrm. You need to fight him, John, fight him!"

His footsteps wavered and she thought she saw his eyes change from blank hatred to a sadness and helplessness. "Run," his voice cracked before his eyes changed back once more.

He was trying to fight it but the Wyrm is too strong. He needs help, she thought.

Before either of them could move, John was suddenly pushed to the side by Meilin who quickly pulled Eilene up.

"Quick, we need to run," Meilin ordered.

Eilene spotted that Conor was slowly getting up while the wolves were trampled on top of each other. She started running after Meilin as they ran through the mushroom villages. She vowed to herself that she would do all she could to help free John.

Irene's POV

"But why did I get a compass?" Rollan was asking, confusion in his voice.

"I'm still not sure," Gerald admitted in a deep voice, "but what I think is that perhaps the other Four Fallen would find their own compass."

"How many compasses do we need?" Irene asked.

Before anyone could reply, Irene suddenly felt pain shot through body and she fell down, screaming in pain. She managed to see the others in pain as well before her vision blurred once more. The pain was so painful that she thought that she wasn't going to make it. Just when she thought she was going to die in pain it finally stopped but it took a while before the pain finally ebbed away. She finally heard someone say her name and it took a while for her to realize that it was Vhon.

"Irene," Vhon was looking down at her with concern, "Are you guys okay?"

"F-Fine," she croaked out weakly.

To her surprise, Vhon gently pulled her up on to a chair. She was surprised that he could be so gentle when all he did was annoy her.

"That was much stronger than before," Ivan gasped.

"Then we're running out of time," Gerald announced grimly, "We must get going to our next destination."

"Which is?" Jef asked.

"Stetroil."

Sorry for not updating recently. I was too busy with school and other things.

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