MMORPG: Descendant of Sin Chapter 15: Deal with the Devil

Read chapter 15 of MMORPG: Descendant of Sin by GuideofHeaven on NovelPedia.

"To think you would truly choose to flee." A voice came from the darkness between the trees. "You will break their hearts." My finger froze. From beneath the shadows, Wu Zetian stepped into the pale moonlight. The forest seemed to grow quieter around her. Even the wind felt as if it had lowered its head. Her cold gaze fell on me, and I could not help but avoid it. "Why are you here?" I asked, forcing my voice to stay steady. "We are not close enough for you to stick your nose into my business. Whether I leave or not is up to me." "I wanted to see the face of a coward who runs away after tasting a little fear." Her words struck harder than they should have. She walked toward me slowly. Gracefully. Like an empress approaching a criminal who had already been sentenced. "You see, my ability allows me to detect anyone who intends to break an oath made to me, or in front of me." An oath? I did not do such a thing. How could she— No. I had. Back then. When I promised to help them discover who their ancestors were. To think she had such an ability. "Please leave…" I begged her. I did not want to make this moment any more uncomfortable than it already was. I did not want anyone to see me like this. Small. Shaking. Reduced to something pathetic beneath a fake sky. "What scared you so much that you decided to abandon everything?" She stopped only a few steps away from me. Then her lips curved slightly. "Actually, do not answer. I do not care." She kept walking closer. "The result is the same." Her eyes narrowed. "You are a coward, Mir." I kept retreating. "It is laughable," she said, "that I thought so highly of you." My back hit the tree. There was nowhere left to escape. "It is only a game," I whispered. "Just leave me alone." For a moment, Wu Zetian stared at me. Then she laughed. Not loudly. Not wildly. It was soft. Beautiful. And colder than winter moonlight. The laughter echoed through the forest like the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath. "Only a game?" She looked at me as if I had said the most foolish thing in the world. "But I am real." She stepped closer. "So is Alexios." Another step. "So is Luke." Another. "So are Gabrielle and Baekho." She stood before me now. "We are as real as any decision you make and any word you speak here." There were many things I could say to refute that. Logical things. Reasonable things. Things about artificial worlds, simulated bodies, and induced sleep states. But none of them came out. Because this woman, who was so much smaller than me, now towered far above me. Not physically. Emotionally. In my eyes, I was small. An ant beneath the shadow of a throne. Was this her ability? Did she have some power that made me feel like this? Or was it simply the guilt in my own heart? "If you run away now," Wu Zetian asked softly, "will you continue doing so for the rest of your life?" She raised her hand and placed it against my chest. Then, with calm fingers, she started unbuttoning my shirt. One button. Then another. "When will you stop running?" I could not answer. I knew this. I had studied it. I had learned the history of man's fall better than most. I knew the stories of kings who lost everything because of fear. Of generals who destroyed nations because they could not bear uncertainty. Of men who betrayed, killed, lied, and prayed, all because something inside them trembled before the unknown. I knew fear was a good advisor. But a cruel master. My voice broke. "I do not want to feel that pain again…" Wu Zetian smiled. I met her eyes. Those eyes were deep like an abyss. They were not filled with anger. Not with fear, like mine. There was something else within them. Something endless. An infinite obsession. With what, I could not tell. Power? Freedom? Herself? Perhaps all of them. "I can help you get rid of it," she whispered. Her voice brushed against my ear, and something inside my chest trembled. "For a price." I swallowed. "What do you want?" After unbuttoning the last button of my shirt