Becoming A God In Another World With My Crush
Chapter 39: But They Did Split Up

Chapter 39: But They Did Split Up

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Xander stepped back from the sealed kitchen door, jaw tight, eyes darker than before and let’s just say he was done playing nice.

If the ghost wanted to be a bitch, well he would be an asshole.

"I tried being calm," he muttered. "Tried not to offend the haunted architecture. Tried not to provoke any lingering spirits or ancient curses."

Iris trailed after him, eyes wide. "X–Xander, wait—"

He grabbed a chair nearby and carried the chair toward the tall window, its dusty glass reflecting just enough of his tension to look like a mirror.

"I’m done playing nice," he said. "If this manor doesn’t want to let us out, then I’ll tear this shit apart!"

"You’re going to destroy the windows?"

"Yes."

"What if the ghost gets mad?!"

"Fuck the ghost."

He turned back, gaze lingering for one final moment before he smashed the window to pieces. Xander turned around sharply, his eyes scanning the room like he’d missed something important.

"Wait...where’s Alyhana?" he asked, voice rising. "Iris—where is she?"

Iris blinked in confusion, "What? She was...she was standing right here! I was just...she was right here!"

Xander’s breath faltered for a moment, then he dropped the chair and he stormed across the room as his blade swung low and ready.

"Alyhana!" he shouted, voice echoing through the manor.

No answer.

Iris scrambled after him. "Could she have gone after the voice?!"

"She did!" Xander snapped, spinning toward the corridor. "Or something took her!"

They charged into the hallway.

Their footsteps thundered against the wood, boots slipping slightly on the damp floor as they ran past faded portraits. Every doorway led into another room, but none of them felt right.

"Alyhana!" Iris called out, voice strained. "Where are you?!"

Xander pushed open an arched door, panting. "We’re not supposed to be separated!"

They ran down another narrow hallway lined with faded wallpaper and crooked sconces that flickered just enough to look alive. The manor felt older here.

Iris’s boots skidded against the floor as she turned sharply, her braid whipping against her shoulder. "Alyhana!" she shouted again, breath hitching. "Can you hear me?!"

Xander followed close behind until he stopped mid-step.

"Xander..."

His body went still, eyes locked forward, blade low at his side.

Iris didn’t notice immediately. She was two strides ahead when she realized something was wrong. She turned.

"Xander?"

He didn’t answer.

A flicker moved behind his eyes. Not fear. Something deeper, he stepped back slowly, like trying to make sense of sound.

"...Dad?" he whispered, it felt like his blood had gone cold...his dad’s voice, but he watched his father die that night.

Iris blinked. "What?"

Xander’s gaze was fixed ahead—on nothing, his breath faltered.

"I heard him," he said. "He—he called my name."

Iris frowned, stepping toward him. "Shit, no you too! Snap out of it, It’s not real!."

"I...know," Xander murmured, voice distant...he sounded like he wasn’t actually trying to convince himself rather than telling her that he knew...maybe this was what Alyhana felt.

"Xander..."

His hand loosened around the sword, and his shoulders began to sink, caught somewhere between shock and memory again.

Iris grabbed his hand sharply, her grip was firm as her chest glowed slightly at the contact. "Don’t listen to it."

Xander blinked, eyes snapping back to her like she’d shaken him from sleep.

"That wasn’t your father," she said urgently. "It’s the ghost!"

He looked at her for a moment longer like he was in a trance then he nodded once, her hand was warm compared to his cold ones but he barely had time to dwell on how she was touching him again because he was...oh I don’t know, trapped in a haunted house and the girl he promised he’d protect to a dying woman was missing.

’If I can ignore the voices calling me Kaelhi in my head twenty-four- seven...then I can ignore a ghost calling for attention.’ He thought,

They both turned and ran again their fingers still laced together and faster this time, they ran past doorways that seemed so old they would crumble if they touched them, past mirrors that refused to reflect due to the amount of dirt and dust calling for the pink haired girl’s name and her name echoed through the corridors unanswered.

"Alyhana!" Iris shouted again, her voice was getting hoarse from yelling. "Fucking hell! Just how big is this house?!"

Since Alyhana’s or of light had gone along with her, the two had no other way of light except for the full moon outside. It was night already and the rain still hadn’t let up, his eyes narrowed and shoulders tense, scanning the walls as if the ghost might jump scare them as he adjusted his glasses.

Then that’s when he felt the wind, it hit him like a giant fist from nowhere...cold and furious.

"Agh!" Xander was yanked backward, the force snapping his grip free from Iris’s hand like a string had been cut mid-air.

"Xander?" Iris spun around.

She barely saw it, merely just a blur to her eyes as his body flung down the hallway like gravity reversed itself.

He collided against the opposite wall with a grunt, then vanished through a door that swung open without touch.

Iris screamed. "No! Xander!"

She ran after him, panic flooding every step, but something tight and very invisible wrapped around her ankle and she slammed face-first into the ground with a cry.

Her fingers scraped against the old wood as she tried to crawl forward, but the force dragged her back by her leg. Tears pricked her eyes not from pain though, but from the sudden helplessness she felt.

"No, no—Xander!"

Then the door at the center of the corridor slammed shut and the sound rang through the entire manor like thunder with nowhere to escape then silence followed.

Iris sat frozen for a beat, her breath loud, chest rising like her lungs didn’t know what came next.

Xander was gone.

Alyhana was missing.

And now... so was she.

The manor had separated them.

And Iris once again wished she had just died when the truck hit her instead whatever the hell she was going through m