novelzi Ch 1.27: Escaped
Ch 1.27: Escaped
Ch 1.27: Escaped
“Elaina, Carline!” the System shouted as Elaina crashed to the ground of the cave, crying out as the light from the System filled the area. “I’m so glad you made it back!”
“I can’t move, I can’t move!” Elaina screamed, trying to flex her legs. For all she knew, they might not even have been attached anymore.
“Please, accept this reward for a mission completed. There will be further rewards forthcoming.”
“I don’t care about rewards! I’m fucking paralyzed!” Elaina looked over, finding Carline still unconscious, laying a few feet away. Her staff and Elaina’s chains, still wrapped around the other subcore, were in between the two of them.
“Please open the chest, Elaina. It has a potion that will help you.”
Elaina looked over as a small chest, the same design as the one from the dungeon, materialized in front of her, blue light crafting it the same way her class gear had. She pressed the crystal.
[Bonus Reward]
The chest opened.
[Potion of Greater Restoration]
It was sparkling red liquid inside of a crystal flask. “Drink most of it,” the System said, voice shaking. “Give the last bit to Carline.”
Elaina did so, popping the crystal top off and throwing it aside before forcing the vial to her lips. Every drop was wonderful relief, pain easing off of her back. Some pain was still there as she took it from her lips, and she wanted to finish the entire thing, but if the System said Carline needed some then she wasn’t going to risk it.
She placed the vial on the ground and tried moving her legs. Her spine screamed out to her in torturous agony, but her legs moved. She managed to get to her knees and grabbed the bottle again, shuffling over to Carline’s body with tears streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry...” She turned Carline’s bloodied head and lifted it up, pouring the scarlet liquid into her mouth.
Carline’s eyes shot open, and she began coughing, rocking Elaina’s body and causing her to double over in pain, the empty vial clinking across the cavern floor.
“Elaina!” she said, pushing herself to her knees and looking around. She placed her hands on Elaina’s back, under the rips in her dress from Myriala’s claws. “I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened.
The pain left Elaina’s body all at once, and she took a deep breath, not even having realized she’d been holding it to stop the pain before. “No, I’m sorry. I fucked up! She got you with one of my own damn chains...”
“No,” the System said. “It is I that made an error today. I... I sent you two into unconscionable danger. Please, allow me to apologize and explain.” Elaina gritted her teeth, holding back her response. She’d said a lot of things already today, to both the System and Carline, a lot of things she regretted.
“System, I need to focus on healing her right now,” Carline said.
“Hmmm. I do not possess the relevant records, but... I could make an educated guess, if you would like.”
“I mean, I can tell you what they were,” Carline said. “Erm, the general idea, anyway. The neighboring nations were scared of our nation’s army of soldiers with aspects and classes, and tried to attack us. King Endrin defeated them at the Battle of Endrin Academy, defending the school against the world’s collective forces.”
“Hmmm. This is not what I would have guessed, and I have reason to doubt the validity of this story. The Academy, as I’ve mentioned to Elaina, was not always what you call it now. It was once the Equal Nations Friendship Academy, a collective effort by nations across the world dedicated towards enhancing the skills of the world’s System Users.
“I do not doubt that there is some truth to your tale that there was a war between nations, though it is likely the story has been altered over the years. One of my secondary purposes is to ensure accurate recordkeeping of historical events, and in my absence it appears the understanding of history started to veer from factuality.” Carline looked like she wanted to interject, but her eyes were cast to the ground.
“Uhm,” Elaina said, keeping her gaze on Carline, “is that really what caused all... all of the destruction at that dungeon?”
“No. This is the second part of why I believe Carline’s record of the events is inaccurate: it is incongruous with the damage sustained at the training facility and what was said by the member of the Red Order you encountered.”
“Wait,” Elaina said, “you know what the Red Order is?”
“Correct. In fact, the System’s primary reason for existence is to bolster the defenses of those the Red Order would seek to harm and subjugate. They are a race of warrior-tyrants from the stars beyond, and they are drawn to worlds that possess a natural amount of crystal. Your world, despite having a relatively small amount of naturally occurring crystal, is one such world, and thus I was sent here to shepherd your people’s growth so that you may defend yourself in the event of an attack by the Red Order.”
“So you knew... that they would be there, possibly? And you sent us anyway?”
“Incorrect. I... I still apologize. In my memory stores, as far back as they go, the Red Order never attacked this world. After seeing the devastation caused at the other facility though, and hearing the words spoken by this Myriala, I must assume that in my dormancy the Red Order did indeed attack. I had not considered it a possibility, as it was unlikely your people would have survived an invasion, even with the strength of the System Users. With additional information from the facility though, I must revise my prior analysis and assume the Red Order has indeed been here before, but for some reason left your people alive at least in some numbers, and also that the backup cores I still have some connection to are the only cores still remaining on this world. It is strange, but I assume I must be a backup core as well, despite not having the designation. It is the only explanation for my limited memories.” Too much. Way too much for Elaina’s brain to handle, at least right now.
“I—” Carline said, still staring at the floor. “I don’t understand why— why the school would be renamed, why the Wars— why there would be parts lost in the history books when we won.”
“Well, maybe there’s a good reason?” Elaina said. She didn’t sound very convincing, even to herself. Despite the torrent of information being overwhelming, she had no reason to doubt the System.
“Yeah...”
“System, you said you were sent here? Who sent you?”
“Administrator information request denied. I apologize, I cannot answer this question, even from the System Administrator.” Elaina sighed, almost relieved she wouldn’t have to try and make sense of more of this right now. “I will try my best to make it up to you the only way I can, though.” Another chest materialized in front of them.
[Masochist Mage Elaina Weaver has achieved level 2]
[Voyeur Vitalist Carline Forsythe has achieved level 2]