Element Oasis: Project Zero

Chapter 21

Help from a Friend

"I'm so happy to see you," Elley said as a tear began forming in her eye. "After I saw all the wanted posters of you and your friends, I thought I'd never see you again."

Zero smiled but said nothing. He walked closer to her until suddenly he stopped. He turned away as he looked into the shadow once again and dashed back into it without hesitation. A few moments later, he came back with one person hanging on his shoulder and another in his arms. The one on his shoulder was so large that his feet were still dragging on the ground.

When Zero walked back out of the shadow, he immediately dropped to the ground and started breathing heavily. He looked at his EP and it was nearly at zero.

[New Special Ability Unlocked]

[Shadow Walking: level 1]

[Allows the user to travel through any shadow and appear at another shadow in an instant at the cost of 3 EP each trip.]

"Zero, are you ok?"

He nodded. "Elley, I need your help."

"Alright. Let's go back to the-"

"We can't go anywhere in public. It's way too dangerous but I don't have anywhere else to go. Truthfully, the boss would know that I would go back to my hometown so she probably has people set up all around town to kill me. Even you..."

Elley looked at Zero with sadness in her eyes that couldn't be matched. "Zero, I'd never do that to you. We're friends."

"I know, but there is still a chance that I can't trust you. I trusted someone and they poisoned my party members for reasons that I didn't ask for. Now they can't defend themselves and I have no idea where to take them! They don't deserve this nor should they be wanted for something they didn't do."

"Killing Nikola?" Elley asked while stepping closer to Zero.

Zero nodded.

"They helped me weaken Nikola for sure, but I was the one who struck the first blow and the final blow. I got Valeria killed over a stupid mission that should have been looked at from a different perspective."

"Your mission to change the financial imbalance of the world?"

"Do you see how stupid that sounds?" Zero asked and he paced back and forth. "The only way to make a change is to start small. Hitting someone like Nikola and the boss is way too much for just me and my party."

"Then what do you think you should have done?"

"I should have listened to your sister. Arza asked if I had cleansed even a single street and I haven't but that's what I should have started with. When I saved Till from going insane, I should have kept doing that for every other homeless person until I built Hollowfield into a community that cares for each other. A community that helps each other when they're down. I've seen a town just like that when I first left here and it isn't far from here either. Umbraville is the example of a community that I want every region to follow after, but I should have started at a single town first and then made my way up."

Elley listened as Zero continued to pace around nervously. He was pacing so much that he was beginning to leave a small trail in the places that he was pacing.

"If I would have done that, Valeria wouldn't have-" he couldn't finish his sentence.

Elley nodded her head in understanding as she watched the teen in front of her turn into a man.