LIVIA'S POV
My stomach turned. My body hurt. I was dizzy and nauseous. I wanted to sit down, cry and scream.
I couldn't understand why.
I couldn't understand why everything had to be so difficult.
I couldn't understand why I had to live this.
I couldn't understand why I had to survive in this place—dying of heat, fear and anxiety, without even being able to drink a little water—when barely a week ago I was decorating my agenda with kitten stickers while Abi explained the origin of the spacecore.
Not only did I not know if my parents and my friends were alive, but I also had to face aberrations that I had never seen.
Me! Someone who couldn't even watch scary movies had to survive here.
I didn't understand it. It wasn't fair.
However, that wasn't the worst. The worst was that I had to deal with a problem that surpassed me in all aspects.
[Devotion is resonating]
Milly. Is she still alive?
That was what I asked. But as usual, [Augury] was unable—or unwilling—to answer questions related to Milaine.
I felt naked, ashamed and stupid.
Not only had I not told Milaine about Leo, but I also hadn't told her about the mismatch that [Truthsight] had found in the number of timelines.
Even though she trusted me and told me everything, I didn't tell her anything.
Because I knew her having doubts would be inconvenient.
Because I thought I could find the words and the perfect moment to do it.
Because I thought that I could do things better for everyone. Because I was afraid.
I was afraid of ceasing to exist.
What exactly happens when Milaine returns? Is everything erased? Does everything continue?
If everything is erased, then it's only a matter of time before we stop existing. Or, even worse, if everything keeps going on, are we even 'us' any longer?
Or are we a 'failed attempt' of the real 'us' that are where Milaine is?
I didn't know it. And that was killing me. I couldn't keep thinking if I couldn't confirm if I was real.
It was at that point that my mind—without me being conscious of it—maybe because of the emotional overload that I was feeling and as a way to cope, started to fragment.
[Fractal has activated]
As the last of the purple projectiles from Eleonora's hand struck the tongue trapped in the petrified mud, I felt a pull on my shoulder.
While in slow motion I saw two men stepping in front of us.
The bigger, older man formed walls of mud around us, blocking my field of vision.
Only a second later, the younger one pushed his hands against the mud wall.
The mud became something similar to iron as it changed its color and texture.
They did it fast—within the slowness with which I perceived them—and barely exchanged words. It seemed mostly like muscle memory.
'They must have done this at least a dozen times,' I thought.
'Ehhhhhh? W—Who are they?! They look scary!' the second exclaimed.
'They pulled us hard. It hurt,' the third shared.
The huge man let out some micro-spasms that didn't escape me—three to be precise—before closing his fists.
His hands trembled, but he seemed to want to hide it by the way in which he did it.
Without thinking it, and before the second could interfere, I forced the third and activated Truthsight.
[Status Window]
Name: Roid Kess
True Name: [The Hero of Courage]
Class: [Novice Earth Druid]
Gifts: [Earthbending]
Innate Abilities:
[Willpower]
[Improved Teamwork]
[Environmental Awareness]
[Decay Resistance]
[Fire Resistance]
[Physical Resistance]
Flaws:
[Earth's Burden]
[Chronic Insomnia]
[Survivor's Guilt]
[Impulsivity]
[Blackened Lungs]
[Pathological Altruism]
[Crumbling Joints]
[The Hero of Courage]
No one chooses to be a hero, but someone has to step up. Someone must have courage so that those who follow may find their own. Not for glory or fame, but to be an example. A brave man walks first into the dark, not to win, but to inspire. That is what courage does. It moves people. And you are its hero.
(Your True Name has drawn the attention of a Deity, granting you the Gift [Earthbending] and the Flaw [Earth's Burden])
[Earthbending]
Only someone who knows what it's like to be burned can hold the blessing of the Mother Earth.
You do not just move the earth; you command it as an extension of your own body. You can manipulate earth and rock in all their various forms.
The way in which you move, fight and live affects how the earth responds and molds to your will.
[Earth's Burden]
The Mother's Blessing is not free, neither for druids.
Every ounce of earth you manipulate through your Gift weighs upon your bones.
The larger the mass of what you want to move, the greater the weight you'll carry on your body. If the weight is too much, you won't be able to move, and if you go beyond that, even your organs won't be able to withstand it.
—
I quickly scanned the status windows, focusing on the sections that seemed most important to me.
I could deduce the rest of things by the name, but mainly I did it to save time.
I needed to gather as much relevant information as possible before the second started to influence the third again.
'Hey! You can't do that! You didn't even ask her!' the second protested.
'Did you just move the body without asking me?' the third asked incredulously.
'It was necessary. We need to know everything about these people. Now, third, if you can, could you move the eyes and watch the other m—'
"Are you guys FUCKING RETARDED?!" A voice cut the air, raising all my alarms.
The voice echoed throughout the entire place, louder than the sounds coming from behind the metal walls.
Thanks to our improved perception and how time moved slower, the voice sounded worse than it would have normally; almost like a distorted prolonged echo in my mind.
'AHHHHHH! WHAT IS THAT?! Why does it sound so horrible?!' the second screamed.
'W-what? Are they attacking us? What's happening? More monsters?' the third asked as she moved the body, tightening her grip on Eleonora's green book, turning around.
'No. Not a monster. We found her,' I replied.
I observed the woman with short blue hair, in a white blouse and stained pants, pointing in our direction while contorting her face in slow motion.
She also had a bandanna, only that she had it lowered to the height of her neck.
I recognized her instantly.
"Lysandra," the three of us whispered in unison.
Immediately after I remembered the warning that Milaine gave me.
"Don't let her touch you, by any means. She'll mess with your head."
'Third, put distance between us. Now,' I ordered, already trying to force the third to move again.
In here, where time passed especially slowly, the distribution of tasks was simple.
I took care of the logical processes and the resolution of problems. The second took care of 'feeling'. And the third was the one who moved the body.
Regrettably, we weren't as coordinated as the two men that offered their help. That was mainly because of the second, who—regrettably—had more influence on the third than I did.
Remembering Milaine's voice evoked her image, which made the second start to sob again.
'Milly… will she be fine? No, no no no no, why!? Why didn't we tell her?!
What if she returned? Are we even real now? Oh, I can't, it hurts me a lot, my heart hurts a lot. Oh, oh I need to scream. I have to scream!' the second screamed, taking more space.
'Second. You need to calm yourself down. Your emotional state only affects the third, and you make it difficult for me to think,' I replied.
'My hands. They can't stop shaking, and I think my throat is closing up. Should I scream?' the third asked, ignoring my previous command, already being affected by the second.
'No! You won't scream, third. Do your job and keep the body under control. Take distance,' I repeated.
'There's no hope, is there? We are not even real at this point, RIGHT?!' the second screeched, now trying to exert her influence on me.
I tried to use Truthsight again, this time to scan all the available people in the field of vision.
But it was impossible. I needed the third to blink consciously.
I observed and registered the faces of everyone present and ordered them in priority.
There were at least four people that I still needed to check.
Lysandra; the two men next to her (probably making the convulsing man low priority); and the man around our height who had hardened the walls.
Having registered that, I concentrated on thinking of something to calm the other two.
At least the world was slow enough for us to have this charade inside the mind.
'Both of you, listen. If Milaine was dead, shouldn't that white flame on our hips have dissipated with her? Well, look below—it's still there,' I replied, not really knowing if Milaine was alive or not, but hoping that the evidence would at least serve its purpose and calm the other two.
'Wait? Really?!' the second asked hopefully.
'It's really there,' the third said, moving our gaze to look down.
The thick white thread was still there, wrapping our hips while connecting with Eleonora a few centimeters from us, who still glowed with an intense purple light.
'S-she's alive…' the second answered sobbing.
'See? Now, why don't we move next to Eleonora and create distance from the rest of the people,' I suggested.
'Leo… Yes… I-I want to hug her. I need to hug her or I'm going to die. C-can we go hide behind her, third?' the second pleaded, having already fallen for the bait.
'Okay, yeah. I want that too,' the third said.
As the third moved the body, we crossed the purple flame without burning ourselves, and we hid behind Eleonora.
With our left hand, the third clung to her arm, while our other hand gripped the green book tightly.
The effect of the proximity with Eleonora was immediate, as the third started to breathe better and to move less, while the second finally started to shut up, giving me more margin to control the body.
I filed away our emotional dependence on Eleonora as something to 'check' later. In this situation it was useful, but it wouldn't always be like this. I couldn't allow the second to return to 'preferring death' over our own survival.
I was sure that I could reduce the flaw of our [Devotion] if I used [Golden Rule].
However, the probability that the others would let me do it was low, and I didn't have time for that. Yet.
Fortunately for us, the two men who were a few meters away didn't seem to react to our movement.
Or at least not in an immediate way.
'I am going to reduce our perception a bit. Third, keep your gaze for at least two seconds on each person so I can check the windows with [Truthsight].'
As I took more control, I managed to reduce the speed of our perception. Time started to move at a normal speed, enough so that words wouldn't drag and would give us time to react if it was necessary.
At this point I could also hear, more clearly, the impacts of the 'tongues' against the walls.
Maybe we didn't have that much time after all.
The man of giant physique and short beard—Roid—moved away slowly from the wall where the sounds came from, turning toward Lysandra and raising a hand, palm open.
"Cut it out, Lys. I made the call. Those girls here, they—" the man was interrupted by another howl from Lysandra.
This time it only sounded irritating and not painful.
"EXCUSE ME?! Did you forget the one and ONLY RULE WE HAVE?! No dead weight, and I repeat: No dead weight! We don't carry dead weight! You two not only just put us at risk but because of your stupidity we left HALF CARAVAN BEHIND!" She stated as she pointed with her thumbs to the other two men next to her.
"Told you, man," the other man, the one who solidified the mud into metal, whispered as he wiped his face with his arm.
'Okay, third. Focus first on the blue-haired harpy, then the one who makes metal and then—'
'Stop calling ourselves numbers! It's dehumanizing,' the second protested.
'I beg you, not now, second. Not now that I just adjusted the perception.'
'STOP CALLING ME SECOND! I WANT A NAME!' the second protested.
'Don't worry, second, I'm fine with being called third. Since I control the body I think it's fair,' the third replied.
'No! It's not okay! And I'm not a number! We're not numbers!' the second protested.
'Am I the only one who's thinking?! We are the same person! We don't—Fine—pick a name. Whatever. Now!' I said, not trying to argue as I noticed that I couldn't improve the cognition and time moved normal.
'Yaaay. I'm Livia! Yeah, that's it! It's cute… and… it's important! So don't be a meanie about it!' the second—'Livia'—stated.
'I would like to be Olivia then. Because that's the name we were born with, and since I control the body it feels correct... although... I would have preferred to be Livia,' the third—'Olivia'—declared.
'Via,' I replied as I momentarily isolated myself from the other two.
I didn't want, and I didn't need to listen to the second—'Livia'—reviewing every possible name under the sun and only distracting me.
If I couldn't have control, at least I needed to listen, and pay attention to the details in reality.
Roid gave a small hit to his partner—Simon, as he called him—on the shoulder while he nodded to him.
"I'll take care of it," he said before standing in front of us, turning his back to us, to face Lysandra.
"These girls are not dead weight, Lysandra. Nobody who was dead weight could make it this far. Did you just see how she—" the man was interrupted when Eleonora's hand connected with his neck from behind.
"Don't move. If you do, I'll blow your head off."
'Shit.'