The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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“Stop reading.”

Aeon looked up, mildly startled both by the sudden appearance of the Gentleman and by his inability to detect it. The man was sitting at the table, across from him.

“You've read enough.”

Aeon closed the book—he had read about a fourth of it already. He examined the Gentleman, and noticed he was rolling a familiar object in his hand. It was silver in color, and molded like putty.

“Let's talk about something more interesting.” The Gentleman placed the silver object in the middle of the table, which slowly flattened into an oblong disk. “Well? Make it turn into a ballerina or something.”

Aeon ignored the request.

The Gentleman sighed. “Don't worry about her—she's in a secure place. I will send her home soon enough, and it will only seem like a few seconds, in her perspective.”

Aeon said nothing.

“Do you really want her to experience the same things you did?”

Again, no reply.

“Oh forget it. Just tell me how this thing works, will you? I'm actually quite curious.”

Aeon finally spoke, albeit through gritted teeth. “It… doesn't work like that.” He placed his own adaptive tool on the table. The colors between the two objects were slightly different. “The same shapeshifting premise is there, but they can be governed by different concepts.”

The Gentleman took the shapeless object and leaned back in his chair. “I suppose I simply can't get that much more out of you, then.” Aeon began to open the book. “Enough reading. You should be mingling with the other contestants.”

Aeon closed the book, mildly frustrated. I guess there's some logic in that… I should find Amethyst, so that we can work together to find a loophole out of here. It is the best chance we have so far, after all. He stood up, and left the only way he could. The Gentleman stood up and followed.

“My name's Ari, by the way.”

Aeon ignored him.

“I suppose a handshake wouldn't be very welcome, then.”

The two came to an intersection, and Ari said to turn left. Aeon looked back with a look of annoyance.

“You wanted to find Amethyst? I'm simply guiding you to her.”

That was a guess—it had to be a guess. But I don't know whether he's lying. Aeon took a left, approached another intersection, and took a right on Ari's advice. The cycle continued for what seemed like hours, before a faint but familiar hum of suction was heard.

“I suggest you stay away from the vacuum cleaner. You saw how it killed Nathan.”

“It is simply following orders, even if it dislikes them.”

“Of course. A machine cannot disobey its programming, now can it?”

“Eximo has shown many times before that it was more than a simple machine.”

“My advice still stands. Take a right.”

Aeon had no choice but to concede.