The first virtue returned, nature came back with Leo's fall. The laws of physics and chemistry returned. Much of the universe's balance was restored. But due to the entire reconstruction of the universe, those unaffected by the virtue ended up being separated while they sought to find each other.

Lalá found her way to the cave where the virtues were destroyed. There were the twenty tables from before, and on only one of them, there was a green sphere glowing as brightly as neon, in full power and majesty.

"Mikael, so you were the first to return. I wonder where you sent those living humans."

Pedro

When the green light dissipated, Pedro felt warmth. Not only was he feverish from the exhaustion of his injuries, but the ground was burning with a different texture, and the sky radiated intense heat with few clouds. The man found himself in a desert, with sand and dunes in all directions.

"Where... am I?" The exhaustion prevented him from moving, his muscles were contracting, and he was conserving his strength. He needed to find a forest soon so that the plants could take care of him; he needed water urgently or he would faint.

Emily

Meanwhile, Emily was in a forest. The girl calmly observed the underbrush she was in; no animals were visible, which meant the animal virtue had not returned. Contemplating the trees meant nature was back and an deceived one had fallen.

"How do I know this?" The girl asked calmly. What Emily found strange was noticing how the trees were, for the most part, known to be prehistoric. The strange thing was that Emily had never heard of prehistory in her life; it was as if the information had been downloaded into her mind, and as she looked at the plants, she understood everything she needed to understand about them. "What is happening to me?" She asked just before the question lose it's meaning. She had already deduced: It was her power. Pure logic, she should know everything. "But something is wrong with this... it doesn't fit..."

The girl was not curious about where the others were, as she had already deduced that they had been separated by the virtue. She was not worried because she had already deduced she would not be able to do anything. Her mind was full of thoughts, leaving no space for feelings.

John

Similarly, John was wandering along an abandoned path. The archer was in the middle of several wooden huts with thatched roofs. It was a medieval village; no animals were present, nor was there any sound, but humans were scattered in the center, suffering.

Pain... that was something John was sure they felt. People say pain is psychological, which is true, but it doesn't diminish the pain. All five senses are psychological; vision is your brain reproducing an image, hearing is your brain reproducing sounds, smell is it reproducing odors, taste is the representation of flavors, and touch is the representation of sensations. Everything a human feels is psychological, in one way or another.

Pain is touch to the extreme; when you touch a wall, your sensory neurons send the information to your central nervous system, where it passes through interneurons that transmit the information in reaction, causing motor neurons to send the response to the body. This is the definition of touch. Pain is touch; when something is wrong with any part of your body, your brain processes the information and sends it as an alarm screaming: THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS AREA!

The humans might now be empty-hearted, they might not know anything about who they were, but their bodies still functioned normally, filled with diseases, with so many spots, wounds, and injuries. Their brains were probably in complete meltdown, alerting them about how their entire bodies were in danger. But at the same time, without knowledge, they could not react properly, and their bodies were still old; moving caused pain.

"Ah, I understand." The man said, finally reaching a conclusion. "The virtue of time hasn't returned yet; the timelines must be in chaos. Each of us must have ended up in a different region, at a different time. The question is: Does the same apply to the deceived ones? Or are they together?"

Clark

The angel was in paradise, as everywhere he looked was only white, with slightly rarefied air and cold. Clark was at the top of a mountain in a snowstorm; his feet were already numb, even after such a short time there.

"What the hell..." The redhead murmured, his nose already showing signs of about to start running. He could already feel the cold burns on his face. "Why am I on a mountain? What's happening here?"

Stuart

While for others the sunlight was shining, Stuart found himself under the moonlight. The man was in a cemetery, with few lanterns on the site, only graves and tombstones visible all around.

"Wow... You must be kidding me. A cemetery? Wasn't there a worse place for me to be?" He had no issues with cemeteries themselves; after all, he had never been able to bury his wife in one. Lindsay had been destroyed in... an unrecognizable way. Little remained of her body to be buried; it was a simple, small, and forgotten burial. In fact, only Stuart and John were present. They had no intimacy with the others and Lindsay, though kind, was not very well-known.

A sad twist of fate, sending the man dealing with death to a garden of corpses.

James

James was in London of the mid-19th century. Big Ben shone in complete glory in the city center. But like everyone else, the street was deserted of life, only half-dead humans scattered on the roads.

"Is this... London? Did I end up on another continent? Or in another era? What should I do now?"

Helena

Helena found herself in the middle of a medieval castle, running through the corridors searching for her companions, but finding nothing. Wondering what had happened, why nature had returned so suddenly? Was Pedro okay? Did he manage to defeat that wolf? She needed to find someone soon to help him, but she was lost and couldn't remember the way back to the group. She should have stayed with him; her injuries were not that severe; she could have fought that monster.

"Pedro better not be dead..." The woman whispered, running anxiously. "... I should have ripped that beast's ear off as a souvenir. If I had my sword, things would have been different. I would have sliced that mutt into a thousand pieces."

Lysa

Finally, Lysa was in a large modern city, surrounded by buildings and more buildings, abandoned cars, trash everywhere, a subway station, and even a park in the distance.

"Helena? Emily? James? Where are you guys?" The girl asked, frightened, holding her hands over her chest in a more insecure pose, eyes welling up as always, body trembling as always, scared as always. The child who wanted to be an adult was, in the end, as scared as a child. "ANYONE THERE? H-HUMANS?"

But no one answered. The girl was completely alone in such a vast area. To be precise, she wasn't alone, curious, Lysa decided to approach some "humans" around her.

"Hello sir, are you okay?" The girl asked the elderly man in front of her, who seemed to avoid moving as much as possible, even though his body obviously yearned to twitch. Lysa did not touch him; the colors around him warned her it was better not to, as his body was covered in wounds, and even the slightest touch would be painful. "Probably not... I wish I could help you. But I don't think there's a cure for what you have... Is there anything I can do in this whole mess? My powers haven't helped so far, and I thought they were useful. I am a joke after all..."

Now that she was alone, Lysa could cry without any shame, her tears rolling and falling to the ground. The little girl could remain small without any reason, at least for this moment. She wanted to do something, wanted to help with something, but she couldn't see herself doing anything. Her muscles were weak, she wasn't as smart as she tried to appear, her body was small, her legs were thin, and she was chubby, which made her think she wouldn't be able to do things right. She didn't understand that many children are that way at her age and it's natural. Even if it was a characteristic that wouldn't go away with growing up, it wouldn't make her any less capable than anyone else.

Her powers were terrible, at least for battle, and since that situation with the book, she hadn't trusted them much. So young, and the girl felt much smaller than she actually was. The child wanted to be an adult without appreciating how good it is to be a child.

Until everything turned black and white.

It happened suddenly; the world simply lost its color, and Lysa felt a pang in her heart at the same moment. The girl, startled, got up. Everywhere she looked was colorless, empty, and gray. It was as if the colors had fled, sensing something dangerous that Lysa had not yet noticed and simply ran for their lives.

There was an area, a street, where the neutral shades seemed to intensify; the more Lysa stared at that street, the more she saw it becoming pixels, as if the image were distorting. It was there, whatever triggered the girl's senses, was coming from that street. The girl had to get out of there quickly.

The child entered one of the buildings, which turned out to be a hotel, to hide. It was an elegant place, looking newly opened, which was strange for Lysa; all the places she knew were either abandoned or worn out, but this one was well maintained.

But there was no time to be confused. On the floor in front of her, a set of blue footprints was forming, and with each footprint that appeared, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

"Someone is coming..." Lysa said, understanding the message her powers were sending her. She threw herself behind the hotel reception desk as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

"Ahahahahah..." A shrill, uncontrolled laugh echoed; it was very exaggerated and scandalous. The hotel door was flung open, and by the noise, it had broken. "I know someone is here; I can smell you HAHAHAHAHA..." The laugh grew even louder; it was Rhoj, the most unhinged general, who sniffed roughly, detecting a childish sweat. "It's one of the little girls Narf mentioned, isn't it? Come out, brat, I just want to play."

A shiver ran through Lysa; every sense in her body warned her to run. A blur of colors began to form in front of the girl, the colors shaping into her form and mimicking a jump to the side. As quickly and closely as she could, Lysa replicated the movement the colors made, narrowly escaping a surprise attack from Rhoj.

The deceived woman completely destroyed the reception desk with a destructive punch. She now looked at Lysa, who was still frightened, and the two enemies stared at each other.

"I found you. So, what are you going to do?"

"Who are you?"

"Me? There's no value in knowing my name, just as there is no value in knowing yours. After all, you're going to die, brat. Just know that I'm crazy." Terrified, Lysa darted in an attempt to leave the room, but her opponent moved extremely quickly, intercepting her exit and kicking her backward.

Lysa continued to cry again, now trying to hold back as she was in the presence of another person, which was a failed attempt as always. Her stomach ached from the kick, and the girl was scared, very scared. She didn't know what to do, and was it her fault? A child shouldn't have to face things like this, especially alone. What other reaction could she have?

"HELP!" The girl screamed, and Rhoj, who had been smiling before, now had a stern expression.

"Are you not going to fight? Not going to run? Are you just going to stand there crying? What's the fun in that?"

"What do you want me to do? I have no strength."

"Oh, of course... you're a child; it's obvious you'll just wait for an adult to come save you. People who risk themselves for others and people who don't try to fight for their own lives, they're just not fun at all." The child didn't understand what the woman in front of her was saying. Fun? Was that really her priority? Just enjoying the torment of others? Couldn't she see how wrong that was? Couldn't she see the gravity of the situation? Lysa had always been taught to survive; she couldn't play carelessly or she could die. Emily didn't understand this and remained slow and immature, but Lysa was different. She always understood the gravity of the situation; she was always concerned about being careful, she was always terrified at night and anxious. She knew people needed help, that adults solved everything while children were often ignorant of the rest of the world.

They were always being saved, and no matter how many times adults explained, other children were too stupid to understand the gravity of the situation. A being that sought fun in things simply infuriated Lysa, especially in the suffering of others... she could not accept that.

"What you're doing is wrong. What's the fun in that?"

"Wrong? Why? Tell me, when was it decided that this was wrong? What exactly is wrong? Explain it to me, in detail."

"Huh?" Faced with the questions, Lysa had nothing to say; she didn't know how to explain, only knew it was wrong. The girl was confused and scared and lost her composure. "BECAUSE IT'S WRONG, PERIOD! IT'S OBVIOUS, DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO BE EXPLAINED!"

"WHAT?" Rhoj shouted back, furious. "OF COURSE IT NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED, ARE YOU STUPID? DO YOU JUST FOLLOW WHAT OTHERS SAY WITHOUT QUESTIONING? DON'T YOU THINK FOR YOURSELF?"

"I DON'T NEED TO QUESTION ANYTHING, NO ONE TAUGHT ME THIS; I JUST KNOW IT'S WRONG BECAUSE I KNOW IT'S WRONG. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S STUPID FOR NOT KNOWING SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS!"

"OBVIOUS? AAAAAAAAAH, YOU'RE RIDICULOUS, GIRL! HOW CAN IT BE OBVIOUS IF IT'S NOT TO ME? YOU'RE IRRITATING ME, BRAT!"

"YOU IRRITATED ME FIRST BY SAYING THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE, YOU'RE AS SLOW AND STUBBORN AS EMILY!"

"WHO'S THAT?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

"THEN DON'T MENTION HER OUT OF NOWHERE! YOU LOT WHO LIKE TO TALK ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG ARE SO CONFUSING. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT JUSTICE IS ONLY A SYSTEM OF RULES? IT DOESN'T REALLY EXIST!"

"OF COURSE IT DOES, YOU IDIOT! OTHERWISE, HOW WOULD WE DIFFERENTIATE RIGHT FROM WRONG?"

"THEY ARE ALSO IDEAS CREATED BY PEOPLE! THEY DON'T REALLY EXIST!"

"YOU'RE REALLY STUPID, OF COURSE THEY EXIST, YOU DIMWIT."

The two children continued shouting at each other, the 12-year-old cursing and retorting the 18-year-old, and vice versa. They kept screaming without getting anywhere, not arguing, just fixated on their stubbornness. They never proceeded. They didn't converse; they only yelled.

"AAAAAAAAAH, ENOUGH ALREADY, YOU'RE NEITHER FUN NOR EVEN INTERESTING; I'M GOING TO FINISH YOU OFF NOW!" Rhoj charged at Lysa, who didn't even have time to run; her opponent was much larger and stronger. The girl was lifted by the neck by the lunatic, and the deceived one truly wanted to end it quickly. The air in the girl's throat began to fail; the pressure Rhoj exerted on her throat was skilled; it wasn't the first time the woman had done something like this.

If only Lysa were stronger, smarter, better, bigger, older, more capable, but she wasn't. The poor girl was nothing compared to everyone else; she liked studying, but it wasn't enough; she didn't have much patience with other children, but they admired her. She tried to kick Rhoj, but it caused no damage; she tried to free herself, but her muscles didn't produce enough strength to escape.

Being a child was terrible when it came to living. Because children don't know how to live in the real world, and when they learn, they stop being children.

Then Lysa remembered:

"Well, goddess is feminine, referring only to Lysa."

The monk had referred to her as a goddess. Why was she a goddess? What did she have that others didn't? She was just a miserable girl. A child who wanted to be an adult, a small being who wanted to grow up, a creature inferior to those around her, wishing to be superior enough to take care of everyone. She wanted to be a goddess, so she could help everyone...

As her consciousness faded, she felt something growing inside her, her survival instincts screamed, and something emerged from within her, throwing Rhoj back.

"So you finally decided to fight, hell yeah." Lysa took a while to understand what had happened; all she understood was that she was floating in the air with some kind of golden aura around her. Her opponent was pulling out a deck of 12 black cards with a point of light in the center from her pocket. "Let's play."