I gazed emptily at the ceiling of the wooden hut. Where two perspectives had once split my vision, now there was only one, one barren sight devoid of the mementos and insignias I was familiar with accrued over years of childhood bedroom decorating. The sense of loss and confusion clung to my heart as I slowly reacquainted myself with my surroundings.
"Is she back?" Every, standing by my side, frowned. "Why is her…?"
"Shh-" Penci cut him off, still examining me closely. "Hello, miss, can you understand us?" She waved her hand in front of my listless eyes.
"Yeah," I sighed, still staring at the ceiling.
"Oh good," She pressed a hand to her forehead. "That means the language encoding is still active. Well I don't know if her full soul made it, but the connection has been severed, and her soul seems to be active, if a bit weakened."
"That's enough. Leave now." Violet said conclusively.
Every looked back at her a little reluctantly, but Penci merely packed up a few ritual implements she had stranded around her on the floor, and started towards the door.
At last the two left, leaving only Violet and I in the room.
"I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen. If you have questions you may ask them now." Violet pulled up a chair.
I glanced at her briefly only to return to listlessly gazing at the ceiling. After a long moment finally I spoke. "What was it…that brought me here?"
Violet looked at me unfalteringly. "If you're referring to this latest incident. I brought in the two druids to see what they could make of your soul, since Aina proved…unreliable. In the process the man-child Everin touched something he shouldn't have, and a hidden ritual was activated. Pencilgon could tell you more, but the result is what you see. If you wish he will be punished. But we do not have the capabilities to send you back."
"I see," I croaked, my throat and lips precariously dry. I closed my eyes for a moment. "That ritual…originated from…the Mage Tower…didn't it…?"
"Almost certainly."
I sighed. I had more questions about the ritual, but evidently they'd have to wait for Pencilgon's expertise.
"What…happens next?" I asked after thinking a while.
"Either you stay with us and we continue to take care of you, or you leave and depart for the nearest city. We won't keep you any longer."
A faint smirk crossed my lips. "How noble…Who exactly…are you guys? Why do you oppose the Mage Tower…like this?"
The vampire prevaricated for a few moments. "If you wish to stay I have no problems telling you, but if you leave we'll have to seal the memories."
I closed my eyes for a moment, considering. "Eh, might as well. I…need answers right now." I said, not in the mood to be cautious now that things had come to this.
"The druids here are more of a peripheral, guerilla force. They have no blood feud with the Tower, but neither do they wish to operate under their jurisdiction. Beings like Aina and I, however, belong to a scattered organization seeking the Tower's fall for a number of personal reasons."
"What…exactly have they done?"
"The Mage Tower crafted an afterlife for this realm. They set up a puppet church to preach salvation, but the reality was they used the threat of hell to take over nearly every national power. Many are afraid to cross them for this reason. In addition, they used the souls sent to hell for a number of experiments ranging from the deranged to the extreme. The reason you exist in the form you have now, is likely because of those experiments."
"And you?"
"I was saved from their experiments by my teacher. Last I heard she had been clawed down to hell by the church's anti-undead department."
"Ha…I'm sorry. That sounds hard."
"It was a long time ago now."
"Do you have any idea what they're planning with all of these souls from my world?"
She shook her head. "Preliminary guesses might be an expansion of their soul domain, or an incursion into your world, but from what you've told me it seems like there might be something more to it."
"Oh?"
"If they only wanted fifty million souls, they'd already have harvested you all. As we just found out they're entirely capable of pulling your soul into this world."
"Haaa, maybe they want more? If they can show that it's 'safe' to come into the game world, then maybe more people will join, and then…they'll get even more souls?"
"Perhaps."
"Haa, god, feels quite overwhelming doesn't it? Like…what the hell are we supposed to do about it?"
Violet let out a small sigh. "Indeed many in our world feel that way. Even some in the society."
"Speaking of…" I furrowed my brows. My strength had started to return a little, and I was feeling less listless than before, so I could actually take note of what was happening. "Do you see these little rune shapes floating around everywhere? Is that a side effect of me fully being in this world now?"
Violet looked at me blankly. "I see no rune shapes, so this is not an ordinary phenomenon, but it doesn't sound entirely dissimilar to some versions of magical sight. Can you describe what you see?"
"It's like…" I sat up a little, staring at the tiny runes flitting through the room, trying to comprehend what I was seeing. "There's little shapes kind of floating around…kind of like little dust particles in the air, and then when I look at you." I looked at her and froze.
"Holy crap." I blinked rapidly, and my vision seemed to shift between different versions of reality.
In some versions of reality Violet sat there like normal. Her porcelain features, button nose, and black hair, completely unmoving. But in other versions of reality countless runes swarmed around her like swarms of ants, so dense that I couldn't even see her face. Surrounding her in the space of about a meter were still black runes suspended in air like points on a spherical grid. Meanwhile on her figure runes pulsed, swarmed, and flowed in some places entirely chaotically in other places in regular rhythm with things like her heartbeat or breath cycles. It was utterly enchanting, beautiful, and overwhelming all at the same time.
"You're so…beautiful." I said breathlessly.
A tinge of red blushed her cheeks as she blinked rapidly. "...What?"