Chapter 9

Eleonor

She was covered in blood from head to toe but not hers, fortunately, because she had to cross the bloody storm that her companion of misfortune had unleashed to protect her and make her able to progress. In front of her stood finally the rift in which she would need to sneak, the parasitic dagger still in her mouth. The Purifier did an abrupt sidestep, forcing the young woman to anchor herself firmly and wait it out.

caReFUL ! Screamed the dragon in Eleonor’s mind.

“BLAM !” A terrifying impact then went through the structure of metal and crystal, so strong that her tentacles screamed in agony while absorbing it, and she felt quite a lot of them break under the strain.

fASt, THiS OlD PIeCe oF GARBAGE Is STArTiNG To GRoW ImPaTiEnT !

Understood ! She responded in her mind while launching herself into the rift.

the twenty first meters of the robot’s innard where quite boring, just a long hole with walls melted by an old and unknown weapon, a succession of blue and gold armor layers.

She finally reached the ends of those armor layers, arriving at a more sensitive area of the robot. Her mental connexion with the dragon was now cut after having been weakened while she was sinking more deeply in the mad machine, leaving her alone to find an entry point for the parasite she still had in her mouth. She was now beholding a breathtaking landscape.

A gigantic cubical crystal was hovering, swirling chaotically and so quickly that it was hard to distinguish. It was periodically sending energy pulses to a high number crystals forming a web around it, impulsion then conveyed to golden spheres and blue crystals of many sizes and shapes.

...Brrr. Shivered Eleonor. She didn’t know why, but she felt like something was watching her. She stopped to check her surrounding but didn’t see anything that could give her this feeling. What she saw, however, were the details. A big piece of the crystalline web was badly damaged. Some kind of drones were hovering here and there, often bumping into the array or the walls. A handful were trying to do what looked like repairs, but the majority of them were just lying around, motionless, the light dwelling inside the working one missing from them. From time to time, a crystal exploded, seemingly overloaded by the impulsions from the cube.

Strangely, Eleonor couldn’t stop herself to feel some sort of sadness for this rotting wonder collapsing from the inside.

A wonder that would kill you should you gave it the chance ! Focus ! She admonished herself in her mind before launching herself as she could toward quite a big crystal, one with a size the dragon had specified to her. She gritted her teeth when she used her biological hooks, her tentacles not fully healed from all the turbulent climbing.

And i’m hungry. ‘Heck of a good day. She thought while remembering her appendages couldn’t heal properly if she wasn’t satiated.

She jumped from crystal to crystal, bearing the pain until she reached her target. Around her, crystals seemed to be gently traversed by stranges ripples, like an ethereal breath. She kept the phenomenon under her watch for half a minute, suspicious, before losing interest, staying anchored to her target with one tentacle and using her other arm to brandish the parasitic dagger. In one go, she stabbed it into the blue matter.

“BOOM!”

***

Li...Litt… LITTLE ONE ! A voice powerfully resonated in her head, making her regain consciousness. Like a hammer, the pain came, terrifying, her body punctured by an innumerable amount of unknown shards, each square centimeter an unbearable agony, her face burned, her eyes blinded. A tearing scream was taking all the space of her ears, like one big tinnitus drowning the sound world, and she was feeling a disorienting void around her right hand.

LiTTle OnE, RUN ! THe RoBoT Was MoRE DamageD ThAN I THOUgHT, It’s implodING ! Yelled the dragon in her head, exhorting her to flee the place as soon as possible.

She tried to stand up but felt when her right hand failed her, the pain blazing all the more.

My hand… She thought while trying to sense it. Where is my hand ?! She said while panicking when she only sensed a burned stump instead of her palm.

My go…

StanD uP NOW ! Roared the dragon again, driving her out of her aghast idleness while restarting the survival instinct of the young woman.

She took her right arm against her and used the other to painstakingly stand up, each of her splinters-riddled limbs fighting to make their damaged muscular fibers works. After so much effort, she was finally able to stand on her two feet, but...

I don’t see anything, how can I go out of here ?

YOU dOn’T HavE EmErGENcy PeRCEptiON OrgANe ?

No ! She responded, panicked.

I’Ll tRy SOmEthiNg, WaIT ! He said before focusing on a likely solution.

Around her, Eleonor could feel explosions, shock and impact, from time to time some splinter lightly wounding her, but now everything was silent, the buzzing in her ears having faded during her exchange with the dragon. An absolute silence… ?

Breath were surrounding her, as if shadow rustled just beyond her vision, fearful.

Somebody here ? She then asked.

...You’re wounded… Whispered a tiny voice, a feminine and very low, very deep one.

Yes ? Answered Eleonor, confused, not knowing what position to adopt, struggling to not pass out from pain.

...You’ve lost your sight...your arms...your path...I’ve a proposal…

A proposal ?

You take me with you when you leave this place... and I give you that chance to leave.

...Dragon, where are you at the moment ?

AnOtHeR FiVE MinuTes, THiS CrAP Is STRUgglIng !

...Ok voice, give me this chance. Answered finally the young woman to the strange voice.

Then accept me, little girl.

A gigantic wave made Eleonor felt like she was drowning, an humongous influx of energy and emotions that ran through the crystal shard puncturing her body, creating a web between themself to welcome this fleeing entity. When the matrix stabilized, the voice talked again.

Thank you, thank you so much to save me from this place. Now, see. She said.

The world was blue. Eleonor was seeing everything around her, the whole vicinity, in a fifty meter radius sphere, she saw so much things that she had an hard time orienting herself at first. The world was like a wraith, ethereal, hazy, distant. But at least, she wasn’t blind anymore, and she started running with all her strength toward the breach that saw her enter in this robot, she ran despite her shredded body, despite her tearing muscle, despite her pierced lungs, because she wanted one thing above all : to live.

She used her remaining hook to help her in her progression, reaching the exit of this infernal machine full speed ahead. The outside was an apocalyptic vision, rays fusing on all side, blood raining with corpses, melted stone and huge chunks of rock. She started slowing, scared both by the outside and the inside, finding herself between the hammer and the anvil.

JUMP ! ROared the dragon, what she so did, launching herself over the edge with her tentacle and what remained of her strength.

The feeling of weightlessness, then freefall, a mortal storm raging around her as she saw the world speeding up around her, still dyed in blue. She was falling while rays were dancing around her and life was losing its luster. She shut her metaphorical eyes down, the loss of blood becoming too big for her to stay awake, now just enjoying the wind on her skin.

I’VE GOT YOU !

She felt a shock, as if something had catched her on the fly, a something that put her in a warm place, a pocket full of some kind of pleasant liquid, strangely reminding her of Genèse. Overwhelmed by pain, weakened by the blood loss, she let go and lost consciousness.

Evilyn

The Black Death. A terrible disease that spread a few years ago, incurable, painful, fatal. One by one, the cities had fallen, succumbing to the rotting evil. The harvests had been lost, the beasts too, the undead had begun to rise from the tombs that had become the cities, too much dead not properly buried for it to be otherwise. The disease spread by water, rain and rivers, carried by winds in clouds, infecting wells and lakes, distorting crops. Those who did not die of sickness died of hunger or thirst. The people had tried to flee, an increasingly large part of the continent blackened by the Black Death, but it progressed like a cancer that gnawed the earth itself, blindly killing all animals. Some had tried to stop it, priests, magicians, alchemists, without success.

“A few months ago, maybe a little bit more than a year, I and my family were infected.” She continued to explain, tensing a little when she came to this part.

“They… they did not survive. My Mistress came to take me when I was on the verge of death. She turned me into… into a vampire.” She said with disgust.

“She was trying to find a cure for the disease, and some of her experiences involved infected and transformed children. She wanted to study the effects of the disease on an organism like hers. The others, the ones that attacked you, are part of that group. It turns out that all children infected and turned into vampires end up the same way. They degenerates, turn into wild beasts. To the great displeasure of my Mistress. I’m the one who has lasted the longest so far, but I don’t know how much time I have left before…” She then stopped, wiping a tear that had escaped from her eyes during her speech.

“...before becoming like them. Perhaps a little longer thanks to you, since hunger seems to accelerate the process.” She finished saying with her sad voice.

Not knowing how to react, Evilyn laid a hand on Tysbae’s shoulder, in a futile attempt to comfort her, which however seemed to be working a little.

“And where is your Mistress now ?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It’s been… a long time since she fled, as if she was running away from something.' She replied nodding negatively.

“She abandoned us in this state, without food, without saying words. Hunger began to be felt soon after, and everyone else who was with me began to become… like that, like the ones you’ve seen. I’m the last to have my minds, even just more or less.”

“And we’ll try to keep it that way as long as possible.” Evilyn told her to reassure her, Tysbae smiling a little in face of the positive attitude of the young woman.

“Now, a question that may seem strange to you. Where are we?”

The girl frowned and licked her lips, thinking.

“You’ll have to be a little more specific.” She ended up answering.

“Oh, yes, of course. What continent, country, geographical area, city and building.” Evilyn said, receiving in return an incredulous look from the teenager.

“Uh…okay? The other way around. We are in Ark Veritas, the castle of the Marquise of Étrian. It is found on one of the peaks of the Dulciverres chain, in the march of Étrian which is part of the Sogats Empire. The Étrian March encompasses the entire valley in which we are, as well as the different passes leading to the other side of the mountains, territory of the Eken kingdom. These two political entities are on the continent of Svelfer, the only one that exists to my knowledge.”

“... You seem to know a lot about it.” Remarked Evilyn, her turn to be incredulous.

“That’s normal. I was part of a good family, before all that.” She said blushing.

The young woman nodded again. The answer made sense, and she was not really aware of the norms of this world. She resumed her massage of the temples, with her head slightly bent, Tysbae interrupting her after one or two minutes.

"What are you doing?"

“I’m thinking about what we’re going to do. Let’s do things in order. You’re a vampire, you need to drink blood.” She told her, receiving a positive nod in return.

"Will it turn me into a vampire?"

“No. I’m too young to be able to transform someone else, and even if I could, I would be able to choose to do it or not. Well, this is what my Mistress explained to me when I asked her the same question.”

“Good. So the first two goals are to get me water and food, respectively. If I have something to sustain myslef, you can keep drinking my blood. Is that okay?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure there are any. Our stock was contaminated by the disease a few months ago. This is also the reason why we are all hungry.” She grimaced, before Evelyn’s questioning gaze made her go on.

“Our Mistress had, until recently, a kind of… farm. A farm whose cattle were humans.” She added, grimacing even more, disgusted.

“People raised like animals, to whom she teached nothing, that she did not educate. She drugged them, manipulated them to keep them under control and in good health, as a source of blood. They are all dead now, decimated by the Black Death.” She ends up saying.

Evilyn began to think about while playing with her hair.

“So no food nor water ?” she asked to confirm.

“No. Sorry.”

“Tsss.” She hissed with her tongue, upset, before starting to massage her forehead.

We will have to find something else. All sources of sustenance are infected by a deadly disease. I can’t even eat the kids because they’re infected. She thought, a disgusting grimace lying on her face just by thinking of killing children.

But the end justifies the means. She says to herself before the whole of her train of thought stops.

... Why am I so calm ? She finally wondered.

The situation, as extraordinary as it seemed to her, also seemed very familiar, as if she were in her element. A hostile environment, where she had to find ways to survive, seemed to awaken something in her and, although she would not admit it, she was a little excited by this welcomed change. In her own world, because she had well understood that she had been moved to another world, she had begun to feel cramped, as if she were being suffocated by something, she did not know what. Here, in danger, having to look for her next meal, she felt refreshed.

“And the creature of fire in the black steel brazier ?” she finally asked Tysbae, breaking the silence.

“...What creature of fire?”

“The one that was in the room where I woke up, deeper into the castle. A large room of dark metal, with a cage in the center, a creature of fire enclosed in it, does that ring a bell?”

“No, sorry. My Mistress forbade us to go too deep into the castle.”

“Okay. Thank you anyway.” She said nicely.

Even if I don’t trust it, it might be my best chance to survive.

Syphony

She was sensing worry, anxiety covered by an evident curiosity. Her head rested against something hot and cosy, rocked by a back and forth and a gentle breath on her hair. She moved her head and opened her eyes.

“Hello again sleepyhead. How are you ?” Asked Mellite, worried.

Syphony noticed she was using the thighs of the young woman as a pillow, Mellite having watched over the soldier the whole time.

“I don’t really know...Mhhh.” She got up and stretched her body, feeling her joint pop and her muscles relax.

“I’ve a lingering headache but it’s not that bad.” She then said.

“Was was it with the voice screaming at us ?” Asked Syphony once more.

“I know no more than you what it was all about, but look, I can do this now !” Responded Mellite, more excited than worried.

“Character sheet.” She said out aloud, making an ethereal window appear in front of her.

[Mellite]

[Level : 1 (2%)]

[Ressources :

Health Point : 6200/6200 Stamina : 6200/6200]

[Body : 62]

[Mind : 11]

[Soul : 57]

[Natural armor: 120]

[Natural weapons: ???]

[Capacity : ???]

Seeing this, Syphony frowned.

“You’ve an holographic emitter with you ?” Asked the soldier to the young woman.

“An holographic emitter ? It’s something that exist around here ?” Responded Mellite with stars in her eyes.

“What do you mean it exist around here ? How do you want us to screen informations without ?”

“With a screen ? Like, a LED screen ?”

An epiphany then it the soldier.

I’m a total dumbass ! She was in a stasis tank, maybe she was already sleeping when the holo were invented !

“What is the last date you remember ?” Asked suddenly Syphony.

“Hmmm. August 2019 I think ?”

Syphony sat down, back against the wall, resting her head while massaging her temples.

“...Wait, what’s today’s date ?”

“August 2087.”

“What ?!”

“In know it can be dist…” Tried to say Syphony in an attempt to reassure the girl.

“Woohoo ! I’m in the future bitch, yeah !” Screamed Mellite with joy while jumping up, letting her mate in a momentary daze.

“Wait-wait-wait, this does not bother you ?”

“Why ? This is the future, it’s awesome !” She answered, still excited.

“Yes but, and your family ? Your friends ?” Asked Syphony like a cold shower, letting her interlocutor disconcerted.

“...Hum...no biggies.” She finally responded while shrugging.

“What ?”

“Well, it’s been 68 years since my last memory, either they’re still alive or they’re death, so no biggies. I will search for them and if I don’t find anyone, i’m sure they would want me to enjoy life instead of rehash inevitable occurrences.”

“...O-k. Back on topic. If you don’t have an Holo-emitter, what’s that ?” She asked while pointing her finger at the still hovering window.

“It seems like a character sheet from an rpg, no ?” Responded Mellite.

“An rpg ?”

“A role play game ? no ?”

“...Like an training simulation ?” Asked Syphony, lost.

“Hmm, well, yes, only it’s a simulation for fun. You don’t do that ?”

“...I’ve never really had fun since a long time ago. So you tell me it’s something from a game ?”

“Yup. Ho, ho, try to conjure yours to !” Then asked Mellite with voracious curiosity and endless excitement.

“...Character...sheet ?” Said Syphony meekly.

[Syphony]

[Level : 32 (73%)]

[Ressources :

Health Point : 2100/2100 Stamina : 2100/2100]

[Body : 21]

[Mind : 9]

[Soul : 5]

[Natural armor : 0]

[Natural weapons : ???]

[Capacity : ???]

The window appeared at the request of the young soldier.

“Wow. It’s mine ?”

“It seems so. It’s not something normal around here ?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Well, another mystery to add to our list, right ?” Said Mellite while smiling at Syphony, then closing hers and her partner’s windows

“Hello-hello, you hear me in there ?” Suddenly asked Rahato through the speakers.

“Ha, finally, you manifest yourself, madam. I was asking myself when you would talk to us, you’re quite the peeping tom you know ?” Answered Mellite while looking right toward one of the concealed camera, to the surprise of the scientist.

“...Erm, what ?”

“Since my Syphony entered this room you’re eying us greedily like some kind of perv, it’s quite disturbing.” She added, upset.

“When will we be able to get out of here ?” She asked again, highly dissatisfied.

“I want to see what the future looks like, you know ? And I think Syphony too is sick of this quarantine, aren’t you ?” She said while turning her gaze toward Syphony, imposing her the question with a movement.

“You bet I want to leave this place, but we are infected.” Retorted the soldier.

“...Ha, yes, there’s that. Tell me, can you find us a solution ?” Asked Mellite while turning again toward one of the spy-cam.

“Maybe. I need to do more analysis, if I could take samples of your blood and tissues it could go a lot faster.

“I’m ok with this. You ?”

“I’m ok to, doctor.” Answered Syphony.

“Great, let’s begin !”

Helianthine

“...you can therefore see that the main matrix of this spell isn’t used to focus thermal energy, as you had postulated earlier when I presented it to you, but to stabilize and contain it during the fly of the projectile. Put this in your head : Stabilization is life. Being able to generate a good stabilization is what will make the difference between a alife battlemage and a dead battlemage, capiche ?” Said professor Merory, trying to sink this concept into the mind of his students.

“Lecture is clotured for today. Well, pshh, I don’t want to see you anymore.” He added while driving them out with a hand motion and a sound, obviously tired by his day of work.

As always, Helianthine packed her things but didn’t leave the auditorium, waiting for it to be empty before going toward the old teacher.

“I could have one or two questions about the Converter integrated into this spell. I don’t see why it would be more effective than the Verlane Convertor in this case. No, in fact, I really don't see how this converter works.”

The old mage grinned without watching the young woman while he packed his things, staying silent for a handful of minute. He put his gaze on her when he finally finished what he was doing.

“You’re exhausting, you know that ?”

“Bah, as if a student interested in your teaching would bother you.”

“Hm, good point. Watch the others, fleeing like a flock of duck. And they want to become military or Noble House mages. It would already be a lot to turn them into something else than canon fodder.”

“It’s their problem, not your.”

“I’m their teacher. Of course it’s my problem. But you’re still young, maybe you’ll understand one day.” He responded with a pat on her shoulder.

“Well, come, let’s talk about your questions with a pitcher of beer. I’ve acquired two magical items, I think you will like them.” He added with a wink.

***

“Pam !” Made the pitcher that Remory had nearly smashed on the table, making a dent on the wooden furniture but not damaging the mug at all.

“I must tell, i’ve never seen someone hold their liquor like you, not amongst the mages at least.” Said the old mage, drinking nearly a litter of strong beer for the third time since the start of their conversation.

“Thanks, I got that from my mother.”

“A woman of taste, your mother.” He responded while nodding.

“Indeed, but back to the point. Why not using the Verlane Converter for this spell ?”

“Hahaha, a good question indeed. you don’t let your goal slip between your hands, girl !” He said with a smile, giving her a tap on her shoulder.

“The VerCon is an incredibly powerful tool, the best converter one could use for the creation of a new spell. When it were invented, a large majority of the existing spell using a converter were modernized with it. But i’ve already said this in my lecture. If you’ve the time, I will start by making a little display for you to better understand the subject."

“Ok.”

“Perfect. Watch carefully.” He said while extending his hand, conjuring some sort of tridimensional blueprint above his palm.

“That’s a classical fireball, before VerCon.”

The framework was quite bulky and seemingly also quite crude, like a prehistoric tool.

“And that’s the fireball after VerCon.” He kept going while changing the construct.

this one was a lot more tapered, with multiple arcane channel running along the projectile, leading to an triangle-shaped octahedron. The whole was creating a system as effective as it was complex.

“Wow-wow-wow, what’s this shit ? It’s really an rank two spell ?” Exclaimed Helianthine while discovering the spell structure.

“Obviously not, it’s at least third rank. The VerCon is a complex process, the majority of the spell using it become more efficient but also more difficult to cast. now, look carefully.”

He made a third blue construct appear above his hand, vastly different of the last two. This one was extremely compact and very simple, nearly too simple. A tiny sphere, an Injector and some kind of in incomprehensible gloubiboulga between the two.

“That’s the fireball I taught you. This one is 17 to 21.69% less powerful than the last two, but it’s three time faster to cast, while being simpler and as efficient ans the VerCon. Do you know why ?”

“...The Injector, Containment Field, Stabilizer and Converter are made of one and only piece...” She said softly, before having an epiphany.

“THAT’s why the visualization method you taught us was so different than the one from the other spells, because this one isn’t put together on the fly with multiple part but already functional in one piece !” She exclaimed.

“A model student I say ! A pity you don’t have the money to attend a better curriculum.” He said with a grin.

“You’re plenty good already, Merory.”

“If you say so, girl.” He retorted while taking a swig of his pitcher

“...However, I still don’t understand how the Converter works. Who made this spell ?”

“Ha. It’s the maybe-archmage Lebaclas, and this is the Lebaclas’ Fireball.”

“Lebaclas ? Should I know him ?”

“No, girl, quite the opposite in fact. It’s a little bit like a secret of Polichinelle in the academic world, you see. Lebaclas was a mage, overwhelmingly gifted, bright, capable of learning anything in no time. But he was cursed with two big flaw : he had no imagination, and he was so lazy that he could have become the god of slacker had he put some effort into it. A day he was bored, this madman had enough of the old tiring spells and choose to modify every last spells he used frequently. Be them inefficient, ineffective or just to complicated, he overhauled them in every way he could, creating the base spells most of the mage use today. He then thought his work was enough for him to become archmage. He was denied the title, the other archmage either envious of him or not seeing the feat he accomplished. A big amount of mages then backed his request, but it was too late. Lebaclas killed himself so thoroughly than even when the Council asked one of the Great Priest to resurrect him, it didn’t work. It was, by the way, the first time a resurrection didn’t work at all. He got the title of archmage post-mortem, but his work is still debated now, the archmage divided about it. And after 300 years of research, there’s still no one that understand those spells. It’s like they break every last known rules of magic."

“...A pretty long monolog to say that you don’t know either, no ?”

“Bah, a little bit of deviant history can’t do bad to you.”

“Point taken.” She responded while shrugging, taking another huge sip of her beer.

“Any other questions ?”

“Yes but I need to go now. The house guest has awaken this morning and I want to see how he is doing.” She said while getting up.

“Ha, yes, your boyfriend it is, I had forgot.”

“It’s not my boyfriend you fiend !” She screamed, her face red, before hitting him with her documentation, then leaving the office under the light giggling of the old man, the scene giving the impression of having happened before.