Chapter 7 – Ouroboros Interlude

Darius didn't remember much of the event, but what he did remember he certainly told the judge Pao. The old spirit had been absolutely flabbergasted when he read the report. His charge had been insta-killed. Disintegrated, really.

"I tell you, she just snapped. She said she was going to destroy him, giggled... and then nothing. I think her eyes may have flashed red or something... I'm not sure. Next thing I knew I was waiting for an audience with you. I'm not even sure she's the reason I died. I don't think it is... though the timing would indicate so. I'm mean, really? She's only a lvl 100 mage... we have more than a few levels of difference. There is absolutely no way she could one-shot me from across the table without moving. No way. So it's not her. Maybe a natural catastrophe?"

"A natural catastrophe? Genius boy, if it was so, then why isn't the place swarming with disintegrated people? I think I'd have picked up on it if it was the case"

"... Disintegrated?"

"This is a pain. A pain. Do you hear me? A PAIN. Yes! Disintegrated. Your body has been disintegrated. DISINTEGRATED. On a molecular level. I have absolutely NOTHING to work with in order to respawn you. As it is, I CAN'T respawn you at all. I'll have to fill paperwork, and fill paperwork, and fill paperwork again. Painful... painful... I hate paperwork. I hate shifters. I hate everything but I hate paperwork the most" Moaned the judge.

*Holy shit... disintegrated? What kind of monster disintegrate people? It cannot be a person. I'm still on the theory of a natural catastrophe or something. Maybe an event? I'll have to ask Rin and Alistair when they respawn. They must be dead too. Though... I'm cross with Alistair. He's been a douchebag to her all along? Treating her like a servant? So that's why he said she was 'unimportant' huh. Bastard. 2 faced jerk*

"Hmm... Rin and Ali must have been disintegrated too. Maybe you could deal with all of us at the same time and get their versions of the event?"

"... Do you take me for a fool? I'm your designated judge, not theirs. There's no way I'd also be responsible for one of them, so I have no jurisdiction on their soul. Can you even imagine the odds? It's already an impossible streak a bad luck to have had you as my charge. BAD LUCK! It's always old Pao who ends up with the odd cases... always old Pao.... Poor old Pao. Why Pao?" lamented the judge

> to ALISTAIR - Who's your judge?

>>DARIUS<< from ALISTAIR - Fei. Why? Do you know we've been disintegrated? That's not normal. Do we even know what did us in? It was insta-kill. And did you see the fruitcake? She totally snapped lol. Too bad THAT happened or I would have put her back in her place

> to ALISTAIR - Shut up asshole. Don't contact me for now. I'm busy so we'll have a talk later

>>DARIUS<< from ALISTAIR - Dude?

So Alistair was a no go. He could still try Rin

> to RIN - Who's your Judge? We've been disintegrated so it's kind of a special case

>>DARIUS<< from RIN - Well my form says Judge Pao but apparently he's busy with someone already, so I can't help you

> to RIN - For real? That's awesome! Wait a sec

"Sir? It's about Rin. You're also her designated judge. She's waiting for an audience."

The old spirit blanched "What? I have her too? How is it possible? How is it fair? It's not! Not fair! Not fair! Not fair.... MORE paperwork. Lady luck, why have you abandoned me thus? Aaah... let her in. Just... let her in" He sighed

> to RIN - Come in, he'll treat our cases jointly

>>DARIUS<< from RIN - Ok

The door opened and Rin peeked in. *Hm? Is that Rin? She looks different*

"Come in young lady. You're Rin is that right? I don't remember seeing you before"

"Ah… Um... my name isn't really Rin, it's Kifirin. Rin is a persona so yeah I look different. Apparently Soul form can only be the true Avatar form. Ah... I never died before so you wouldn't have seen me anyways"

*Persona? Is that a shapeshift skill? Hmm did she use it because of her brother? I would too if I was her and that got him off my back in the game*

"... You have the persona skill? That's... eeeh.... special. Well, we know you're not the killer, you have no murderer's mark" Pao keenly looked at the girl. Only beings recognized by chaos could get the skill. And it didn't concern just anybody. She had to have a fractured mind too. People like her put the EE in CRAZEE "Congratulations on never dying until now by the way. Please sit down and then give me your recollection of the events"

So she did, but didn't mention the system notice about chaos streak. She knew everything was somehow her fault but wouldn't advertise it.

But why no murderer's mark? She plainly killed them. By accident though. Oh. No murderer's mark for accidents? There had to be intent then.... interesting.

"... It's no different from your friend over there. What is wrong with the attention span of you shifters? Couldn't you just care a little more and give me less work? I didn't choose to do this job you know. It sucks. You guys sucks. Everything sucks. Whatever, give me your report, there may be more details in it"

She handed it over

Pao swore "Netherland! You weren't disintegrated. You self-combusted. Spontaneously. What the Void? I have a disintegration AND a spontaneous combustion here. Basketcases! What kind of event could lead to that? Were you guys cursed or something? Did you offend an immortal? I don't have anything to respawn you with either. Damn. No body, no respawn. Would ashes have been too much to ask for? ARGH! Is somebody out to get me... is this somebody's sick idea of a joke? You guys are not part of a plot are you?" He felt suspicious.

"No Sir" conjointly answered the 'basketcases'. As far as they could tell, they hadn't offended nobody and certainly weren't plotting anything.

"And why did he say level 100? You're lvl 42"

Darius's eyeballs popped out of their sockets. *What the feck? Lvl 42? But she was wearing ranked gear. How could she ignore the level restriction? Does it have to do with the information sheets she's not sharing? Now that I think about it she never told us her level... we made our own conjecture and she didn't deny it. Smart*

> to RIN - We need to have a talk

>>DARIUS<< from RIN - Later. Keep it to yourself for now and don't babble to Sir Douchebag

> to RIN - I wouldn't have anyways. I didn't like what I learned when he had his fit. I'm kind of reconsidering our whole friendship. It was ugly. Has he always been like this?

>>DARIUS<< from RIN - Yes he has. And don't think I'm a pushover, I just have no choice in the matter, he's the golden boy

> to RIN - Noted

"Probably a communication problem. What do you mean no body no respawn?" answered Kifirin

"I mean no body no respawn. Did you guys really think that your bodies just appeared magically when you came back from the dead? Laughable...

They don't. It's not automatic either. Mob respawn is automatic... not yours. Behind the scene, there's a judge filling up paperwork for the process to happen. That's why we're unhappy when you die too much, because it's more work for us.

And to respawn you guys we need and anchor from the material world... mainly your dead body. Or at least something of you like blood or whatever. For example, Necromancers need bodies to raise the dead, they don't conjure them out of nowhere. Same for us.

And here you are. No bodies no NOTHING.

I'll have to make a demand to the central Ouroboros administration for a philosopher's stone. THAT will respawn you alright. But the paperwork? It's gonna be such a pain. Do you know how MANY forms I'll have to fill? ... Of course you don't. Clueless shifters." he rubbed his temple in exasperation.

Kifirin smiled "Maybe we could help you? Give us an Ouroboros quest and we'll help you with the work. We're fast learners and obviously have a vested interest in it going smoothly."

"Hmph! Alright. I'll give you each 2 Drachmas if you help me fill out the forms. You'll have to ---- and ------"

Ding!

System notice: Ouroboros quest

Judge Pao had asked you and Darius to help him take care of the administrative tape he has to go through in order to respawn you.

If you perform well, he will reward each of you with 2 drachmas.

There is no time limit on this quest, just fill your stack of boring forms.

/! Because you and Darius are the first shifters to unlock an Ouroboros quest, your rewards will be doubled upon completion of said quest.

..................

"Done! Done! Dooooooone! Finally. I though my eyes were going to fall out" Kifirin stood up and smoothed her wrinkled white Kimono. All spirits wore a Kimono in LA'ATZU, the color and design depending of the status. As she was a soul awaiting respawn, hers was a simple white. A Black ouroboros graced its back.

Darius wore the same outfit but Pao's distinguished him as a judge.

First, it was back, and his ouroboros design was on the front, small and white. It was also more researched than hers and ornaments embellished the Kimono. It went very well with his fully inky black eyes and tied white hairs. When he wasn't bitching, Pao gave off a very stern and classy feeling. She watched him work. He was very efficient.

"A minute. I'll be done in a matter of minutes. Wait a bit" said Darius

"You are faster than I thought you would be. That's not too bad. I'll also be done in a few seconds" Pao had begun with twice as much as them but his pile had dwindled faster. *Wow*

When the judge finished, he took Kifirin's work and looked it over. Nodding, he then took Darius' who had just finished. Happy with the result, he used a bird to send the paperwork.

"Good job. Here are the Drachmas" As he opened his left hand, 4 coins with an ancient feel appeared in it. "Do you wish to use them in order to avoid the respawn penalty?"

"Yes" Said Darius

"No" Answered Kifirin

"Oh? Are you sure young lady? The penalty would be 4 levels. You may have helped me but I'm paying you for it and it was a PAIN. Although I must admit now that once the hard work is done I kinda find myself entertained. My peers will also find this subject worthy of gossip. I'm sure that my asking for the philosopher's stone is already all over the rumor's mill. Alright. 2 lvl penalties. You ok with it?"

"Yep"

"Good, now I'll just have to wait for the stone. Please go back to the waiting room. You'll automatically respawn when it's time. You can leave the Ouroboros court but I would advise you against it. See you.... but not too soon I would hope"

They shook hands and parted ways.

....................

"So? Will you explain? I'm curious" asked Darius

"Is this the price of your silence?" she lifted a brow. He would meet a very grisly end if he tried his hands at blackmail. She had no patience for it.

Now... how to make sure he wouldn't talk? Well she'd just have to traumatize him enough. And if she went too far? Well... vegetables didn't talk, did they? *Now that I'm tinking about it... I'm craving a good vegetable soup. Hmm.... I'll make one for dinner.... ingredients are ok... yup carrots. Great!*

"huh? I'm not blackmailing you. If you want to answer do so, but if you don't... well I won't tattle on you, no. I have honor, contrary to certain persons like your brother. Damn I really didn't expect that. His behaviour.... I just though he was just a little full of it." Darius wasn't aware of it, but his choice of awswer had just saved the continued SANITY of his existence.

"Hmm you're decent. I'll answer you then. Yes, I can equip whatever I want. How? Let's just say that I have a very special class. Rin is a battle-mage but I'm not. Now if you want to know about the class, then allow me to tell you that by reading you can access many things, which means knowledge sheets and class.... among many other things. For example I got the Persona skill thanks to a skill-book earned in the library"

"I see. I guess I'll be reading in the next future" He smiled. He knew that wasn't all there was to it but didn't push. "Do you have any idea about what happened by the way? It appears only the 3 of us died. My contacts told me. It was extremely... Localized."

She looked sideways "No"

"... I see"

*Damn that wasn't good. Smooth Kif, very smooth. I hope he didn't bust me. There's no way he could think it's me, is there? I'm a measly little level 42. Haha. Ha. I better get going*

"Yep. Too bad. It will probably stay a mystery. Unless it's the beginning of an event or something? Anyhoo I gotta go. So.... see you"

"See you" His gaze stayed on her even as she unlogged.

--------xxx---------

Back home, she got out of the capsule and sighed. Now she had done it. Damage control time. But at the present she had blackmail material... so it wasn't that bad.

She wouldn't use it to make Danny do things, no. She would use it as a failsafe to make sure he wouldn't try to "make her life hell" by lying to their parents. He knew that if he did the video would be sent to daddy dearest.

She went to his door but he ignored her knock. He didn't show up for dinner either. Well... that went well. She left a note stressing the facts.

She called her best friend, Kathy, and apprised her of the situation. The girl gave her a mental high five before going to sleep.

She followed soon after.

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>>NAME<< from X - You're writing a fiction? (It means that NAME received a whisper from X)

> to X - Yes, do you like it? (It means that NAME sent a whisper to X)