Patience's adversary, dubbed Despair, attacked relentlessly—not with physical force, but with waves of black energy. Yet, I saw only blurred, distorted images forming in the air around Patience: dim, faded pictures whose meanings I couldn't grasp.
Each image was like a knife thrust aimed at the heart of Patience, who dodged every attack with an agility that seemed almost inhuman. His enemy whispered venomous words, words that cast doubt on everything, mocked every effort, insisted on the futility of resistance, and affirmed that the inevitable end was emptiness and despair.
As for Patience, he stood firm, unyielding no matter who he faced. If only I'd had this quality in the past, I might have been alright...
He didn't attack, nor did he respond to the harsh provocations. He was simply... patient. His luminous shield absorbed the black waves of Despair, though it dimmed slightly with each assault. He let the poisonous words of Despair bounce off him as if they didn't concern him. I found myself admiring his serious and patient character.
The battle unfolding before me was one of endurance, a battle of waiting, a battle of faith that darkness would not last—and that Despair, however powerful it seemed, could not completely extinguish the light if someone endured its presence.
The scene was majestic and terrifying all at once. A battle of wills, a battle of absolute opposites, waged on the banks of a river of conflicting emotions. And the demon of Anger stood watching, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce on the exhausted Patience.
And I... I stood hidden, watching, wondering about my role in all this madness.
No... I must hurry to him. But how? And when? And from where?
I don't know what to do. I feel lost amidst everything I've seen. But I have a strange feeling that the decisive blow hasn't come yet—that something is about to happen.
And as I was drowning in this storm of indecision, I noticed a change in the purple river. Its strange color began to darken, leaning towards black, and the scenes that had been fading in its depths became clearer, more painful.
I looked at Patience. His radiant halo had become very faint, almost gone. His body, once steadfast, began to tremble slightly. I realized with a cold horror that Despair was winning the battle... and that this was the end of the fight I had watched with chilling dread.
If he falls, what will happen?
At that moment, before I could make any decision, the unexpected occurred.
The demon of Anger, who had been watching, let out a terrifying roar and suddenly charged—not towards me, but towards him... towards Despair!
I lunged forward with him involuntarily. The instinct to protect a friend, an ally, this entity who had communicated with me and represented something good in this insane world, pushed me out of my hiding place, abandoning the invisibility I had just discovered.
I appeared suddenly in the open, ready to face Anger, to fight it, to do anything that crossed my mind at that moment...
But what happened shocked me more than my own death and return to life.
Anger didn't attack us. It swept past me like a fiery hurricane and collided with Despair with tremendous force, violently shoving it away from the riverbank, sending it tumbling among the dark rocks deep in the valley.
I stood frozen, my mouth agape at the sight, trying to comprehend what had happened.
Anger... attacked Despair? A demon attacking another demon?
I never expected this. If I had returned to my previous life at this very moment... this turned everything I thought I knew about this place upside down.
My stupor didn't last long. Despair regained its balance, and they began to fight fiercely—not like mortal enemies, but like rivals accustomed to fighting each other.
Are they planning something? The roar of one intertwined with the whispers of the other in a chaotic battle that seemed... normal? Routine?
I turned towards Patience, who had already collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily, his halo almost completely extinguished.
He looked at me with tired eyes and said in broken words, his voice barely audible above the noise of the place and the battle:
"You... Optimism... Wh-what did you do? Why... why didn't you help me... when you entered the Valley?"
"Did... did you see me when I entered?" I asked hesitantly, still reeling from the successive, countless shocks.
He looked at me intently, then a weary understanding dawned on his calm face, followed by a resonant sigh:
"Ah... Despair's blow... Was it so overwhelming that you forgot your abilities and your role?"
I didn't know what to say. Should I admit I was hiding? That I was scared? That I... wasn't one of them?
I seized the opportunity he offered me on a silver platter:
"Maybe... maybe so," I stammered with difficulty, feeling shame wash over me.
Patience nodded slowly, as if this explained everything.
"It's alright... I am here to protect you... to protect you all, and to protect him... I am Patience, after all."
Then he added, a faint smile touching his lips:
"Listen, Optimism, this world... is a reflection of the inner world of the person we are connected to. Every situation, every conflict, every feeling they experience in their external life, echoes here. We, the positive emotions, must defend and control the areas attacked by negative emotions. Whether it's this Valley of Emotions, or the Cave of Memories, or the Tower of Consciousness, or even the Bridge of Boundaries... which is rarely damaged, but if it were... it would be very difficult to regain control."
I stared at him with a look mingling fear and astonishment.
What is this? Why all this? Cave? Tower? Bridge? Damn it... Does this mean the battles here never end? Will we keep fighting like this forever?
Then I cast a fleeting glance at the ongoing battle between Anger and Despair, then turned my gaze back to my fallen ally. I noticed he was slowly beginning to rise, his strength gradually returning, his luminous halo starting to glow more strongly before Patience whispered, his voice now steadier:
"He did it... He took control of the Citadel... This has restored some strength to us. Our turn, Optimism. We must subdue this Valley, we must make this liquid turn green, to avoid repeating this situation."
"Wh-what situation?" I asked, still trying to process all this new information.
Patience answered directly, his tone carrying a weight I hadn't heard before:
"The person we fight for... was severely beaten by his father just minutes ago. We must control the Valley quickly, so his balance isn't completely shattered."
S-severely beaten... by... his father?
I froze on the spot, rooted, as a cold feeling seeped into my being.
An old memory, one I had buried deep in the graveyard of the past, began to claw its way out.
Beating... father... pain...
The harsh realization struck me like lightning disrupting a clear night sky.
Could... could it be what I'm thinking? Could this person we're fighting for... be...?
— End of Chapter —