Chapter 13

Mellite

By 2035, the world could finally catch its breath. The previous years had been rough, humanity caught in a vice between the natural disasters it had created and its own self-destructive tendencies. A Third World War had almost broken out in 2029 and it was only thanks to the diplomatic and economic intervention of the Slénéan Federation (Sléné is one of the continents) that it had been avoided. Between 2020 and 2035, much progress had been made in the fight against climate change, in particular through the invention of a material that transformed atmospheric carbon into graphite by being exposed to the sun. The creation of bio-regenerating metals in 2006 had enabled the implementation of many plans previously considered to be science fiction. Wind fields repairing themselves bloomed all over the world, allowing the production of clean and cheap energy and, coupled with the staggering discovery of room temperature’s superconductor in 2019, the world lit up in green. Several large organizations and eccentric billionaires gathered to purge the oceans of their plastic bulk cluttering them, and oil was reserved for the production of recyclable polymers rather than burned as a source of energy. The price of black gold underwent a free-fall, many countries having based their economies on it went through an uncertain economic phase. The most visionary of them had redeemed the debts of great industrial countries, the less wise saw their own country descending into the fire and blood of civil wars, quickly limited by the timely interventions of the Schrodengeir Alliance. All these discoveries and inventions were the result of the scientists of the Project Revelation, a secret military-industrial R&D structure composed of many of the most lucrative industries and businesses in the world, which were in fact facades so that things like Human Rights or the Itina Convention did not hinder the march of progress. What could have been ten thousand human beings sacrificed as a test subject ? They had invented a cheap, easily craftable and minimally invasive treatment to AIDS. 700,000 people a year who would no longer die. They created all the wonders that allowed this world to exist.

And then, in 2035, everything collapsed. Information about the incident was scarce and difficult to find but, of what could be reconstructed, a prominent Revelation scientist whose only known alias, Nero, had attempted to destroy humanity through a virus created specifically for this purpose. His plan, however, was revealed and stopped before it was fully implemented, but the damages were already done. The virus was difficult to detect, had a long incubation time during which the carrier was extremely contagious, and once killed it would rebuilt the infected body to turn it into the most effective vector of spread possible. From thread to needle, this catastrophe turned into a zombie apocalypse. Revelation lost most of its cells but managed to save some country, transforming cities into fortresses, automating agricultural production, using drones and their new power armor to secure resources and strategic positions. The population has declined over time, due to lack of resources, births, and the majority of humans now lived in fortified cities or research complexes. The various technologies that were supposed to lead to a better world were barely enough to make humanity survive. Fift…

“Wait, there’s something I don’t understand.” Said Mellite, interrupting Captain Sirgan’s loooong monologue.

“How, exactly, did you stop the spread of a virus from wich being within five metres of a carrier was enough to be infected by air ?”

John took two seconds to reflect on his answer, not bothered at all by the untimely interruption of the young woman. He was sitting on one of the sofas, Rahato next to him and the two young women on the other sofa, Syphonie yawning slightly in front of this most basic history course for her.

“Shoot down planes, burn cities, bomb transport infrastructure, quarantine entire areas, develop an effective and efficient test to screen patients.” Rahato replied instead of the Captain.

“Put on masks like yours on as many people as possible. And luck, a lot of luck actually. Just as the rate of infection peaked, a series of natural disasters destroyed several major hordes, creating large No Man’s Land, giving us time to reorganize and survive.”

“Luck, logic, and no mercy. At least it worked, huh ?” Méllité commented.

“And so it has been 54 years since humanity survived like this?” She then asked, pointing to the place of the hand.

“The stations are quite new, this one has only been operational for two years, but yes, that’s right.” Sirgan replied, his voice then gave way to a long silence that filled the room.

“I must admit that it’s hard to swallow, this story.” Finally said Mellite, breaking the screed of silence that weighed on them with her voice filtered by the mask.

“I can only imagine the confusion you’re in right now, and I’m very sorry.” The Captain replied with a nod.

“But I thank you for saving my niece, no matter what method you used. At least she is alive.” He added while reaching out to Mellite, who shook his hand.

“Well, having done that, I will have to leave you, the Captain’s duty I am very sorry. “He ended with a certain sadness on his face as he held Syphonie again in his arms, then exiting the room.

“Perfect, we can finally get to serious business.” Rahato said while rubbing her hands.

“Come on, we’ll go to my place to continue our discussion, find out what we’re going to do with you.” She continued looking at the two young women with a mix of interest and apprehension.

***

The room was spacious but the mess and filth made it look very small. Dirty clothes were dragging around, drawings were lining the walls and balls of paper were cluttering the floor, and the only sofa looked like a battlefield, many cushions and blankets stacked and tangled on it. Rahato pushed them without ceremony, throwing everything on the ground to make room for everyone.

“Sit down, I’ll be there in a minute. Something to drink ?”

“Water.” Simply replied Méllité.

“Coffee ?” Syphony asked with hope.

“... Okay. But just this time. This shit is expensive.” Grumbled the doctor, going into what seemed to be the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with two cups and a glass in her hands, which she put in front of them.

“Great, we’ll finally have time to discuss your condition.”

Mellite took her glass of water while the doctor spoke and tried to bring it to her mouth, spilling a little water when it bumped on her mask. Syphony, who was making the same mistake, stopped just in time when her partner got a little wet.

“Ha yes, sorry. Let’s start at the beginning. You can open the front of the mask by pressing a button there.” She pointed to the mask of Méllité, who opened it.

“There is a membrane inside that allows liquids and solids to pass through while sanitizing them.” She demonstrated to the two young women by showing them each on the other’s mask.

“Don’t do anything stupid with it, try to avoid spitting something out, etc…Okay?”

“Understood.”

“Yep!”

“Now, about your infection…”

Eleonor

She was tied to some kind of chair, straps that she assumed of leather around her arms, her legs, her head. She assumed because she was in the dark, unable to see anything. She began to struggle and the pain grew in her as the leather ties stretched. Unable to bear it, she released her effort, her body returning to its original position.

“Help !” She screamed, hearing her voice bounce off the walls of the room.

“Can anyone hear me ? Get me out of here !” She yelled again.

She then heard a person enter the room, the footsteps approaching her.

“Who is there ?” She asked the unknown person.

'Shhht.' she heard whispering in her ear, before feeling a needle penetrate the skin of one of her arms.

The pain startled her and she began to struggle, but the pain that her bonds made her feel made her stop very quickly, she even felt gently invaded by a feeling of sweet euphoria that calmed her. A gaping smile drew on her face and she stopped moving, resting peacefully in this little dark room, doing nothing but enjoying the addictive sensation.

Sanakan

WhAt DId yOu dO To IT, crEAtuRe ! Roared the dragon, crushing the blue ghost with all the mass of its mind. Sanakan repelled it powerfully.

I didn’t do anything to her ! She screamed back before feeling strangled.

I shoUlD DeStroY yOU hErE aNd nOw, yOu pARAsitE ! It said by grabbing her with one of its paw, the Matriarch’s legs hanging in the void as he brought her up to its head.

Around them, the spiritual world of Eleanor was even darker than usual, massive shadows filled the sky, moving in swarms like flights of starlings. The ash-covered soil slowly turned into a swamp, fetid water engulfing the spiritual landscape while a smell of putrefaction was increasingly permeating the atmosphere. The dragon contemplated the spectre for a few seconds before forcing itself to calm down.

So It iS nOt yOU WhO doeS tHIs tO IT ? It asked her, question to which she replied, shaking her head negatively.

W-why w-would I d-do that ? I w-would be t-trapped in h-here with her !

It released her and she fell to the ground, creating a wave on the growing swamp, placing its paw not far from her and lowered its head to look at her.

EXPLAINS. It asked her in an unfriendly tone, pointing to the landscape with a movement of its head.

She lowered her face to look at the ground, touching it with one hand before she began to float out of the ash that slowly but surely tried to swallow and drown her.

I-I’m not sure. I have to check something. She said, before she crossed her legs and closed her eyes, or whatever she had that worked like eyes.

I think … I think she’s trying to protect herself. She ended up saying, the dragon pushing her with a grunti to continue her explanation.

H-her spirit had until now dealt with a number of memories and reaction by isolating them to allow her to survive. It would seem that this isolation ended and that she was not ready to withstand it. Her mind built a kind of mental castle in which he took refuge, an illusion so she didn’t have to manage reality. We had training to make sure we wouldn’t do that. But she don’t.

ImpOsSiblE. Rebuked the dragon.

Normally, yes. I don’t know what species she belongs to, but she shouldn’t be able to do that kind of thing, not to that extent. But something changes that.

WhAT ? He asked, still very dry.

Me. She replied before raising her hands and rushing to continue.

Not me directly ! I’m talking about the network that was woven when she accepted me into her. She then projected a representation of Eleonore’s body.

When the Xeark crystal exploded, in the Purifier, her body was riddled with shards and splinters. That’s one of the reasons I got into her. The crystals naturally reacted to my mind and created a psionic network to accept me, but the network is also linked to the spirit of my Host. That’s why she manages to create such an illusion, she exploits the power of the Xeark network !

... hOw loNG iS IT gOnNa stAy lIkE tHIs ?

Indefinitely. Sanakan replied, concerned.

No. iT wOn’T dO. I’lL noT dIrECtly lOse tHE fIrSt bEIng iN 500 YEARS wiTH whIcH I cOuLd HaVE A discussion of mOrE tHaN thrEE SENtenCeS ! WhAt dO WE hAvE tO dO To wAKe iT uP ?

I don’t know. I do have an idea, but I fear it may, well, it may change her, I don’t know in what state she will be when she will finally free herself. It’s gonna depend on her.

LET’s dO iT ThEn !

Eleonor

She was warm and safe. Fed when she was hungry, made drink when she was thirsty, she had to do nothing, except to enjoy the bliss in which she floated all the time. She didn’t think, she didn’t reflect, she didn’t remember, she was like an apathetic mollusc. The only thing that could possibly disturb her was the pain that her bonds made her feel when she moved unintentionally, which happened less and less often. She was very happy.

Happy ?

Yes, happy. She had not to do anything, she did not care about anything, she cherished nothing, she mourned nothing, she was an empty shell that was periodically filled with pleasure and happiness.

That’s not living ! It’s slowly committing suicide !

Nonsense, it was the optimum of life, without regret, without suffering.

Without being you hold dear! Without anyone to love you ! Without anyone to cherish ! This is not being alive, that’s being dead !

This thought deeply disturbed her. She, dead ? It awakened something in her, something deeply buried. Yet she felt alive, so why did it bother her so much ?

Life is suffering, if you suffer it is that you are alive ! If you act it is that you are living ! If you doubt it is that you exist !

I doubt therefore I am. It echoed, awakened some memory. But she felt so good here.

Is this how you want to stay until the end ? Like a rock, like a stone ? Alive and yet dead ?

... No. Did she think for the first time in an eternity.

No, I don’t want to end up like that. She thought a little louder.

I want to survive… to live.

Then release yourself from your chains ! Screamed the voice in her head.

She began to struggle harder and harder, but her bonds hurt her more and more until the pain was unbearable.

I can’t. It’s too painful ! Scream Eleonore while crying, letting her sore limbs fall back.

Suffering is life ! Struggle, bite, punch, claw, scream and suffer ! Prove that you exist, that you are alive ! Said the voice, inflaming the young woman’s heart.

She then began to pull more and more on her bonds, feeling the pain flowing in her, impregnating her, breaking her.

Further ! More ! Screamed the voice when she felt the flame of the young woman flickering in her heart.

Accept pain ! Suffering is living ! Make it a strength, draw upon it !

More and more she was pulling on leather, further and further, harder and harder .

Feed upon it, channel it !

She was but a great mass of agony, of suffering, of pain, as if she exists only to be tortured. And she felt alive, she was alive beyond anything she had ever known. The euphoria, the pleasure and the suffering mingled in a core of inexhaustible energy that sent its strength into each of the members of Eleonor.

I am alive ! Yes ! YES ! HAHAHAHAHA! !! She roared feeling alive, accepting pain and embracing it like an old lover, her manic laugh seeming to take more and more place like an explosion locked in a bubble whose walls were cracking, showing signs of weakness.

"CLAC!" The noise of the leather that was torn covered all the other sounds and, in the depths of Eleonor’s soul, something broke.

Fürssähfen

He had withdrawn from the mind of the little thing so that the parasite inhabiting it could do her service. After four or five hours, not noticing any major change, it had taken the interesting creature to a corner of its lair. There was a large basin with water like crystal clear and green like emerald, and masses of tentacles were lining its bottom. It slipped the unconscious body into the liquid and ordered the hatching pool to take care of the thing. One day passed. Then two. Then three. The pond decided to place the creature in an egg, the most optimal form for it to take care of the strange little creature. It had placed it in a fetal position, tentacles covering it completely as a protective layer, penetrating each of its orifices in order to be able to control the condition of its body, coating the whole thing with a layer of hardened chitin, and replacing it right in the center, in its deepest part, dedicated to keeping the youngest eggs. From time to time, Fürssähfen touched the mind of the little thing, each time almost stunned by the amount of pain that such a weak contact could already transmit to its mind.

IF EVen I feel that, wiTH MY HigH leVel Pain Reduction aNd Mental Resistance, iT mUst bE heLL fOr IT iN tHeRe. He thought with a slight shiver.

It looked at the little thing carefully, checking its sheet.

[Eleo?nor?]

[Level : 12 (92%) Available Key Points : 11]

[Ressources :

Health Point: 250/250 Stamina: 250/250]

[Body : 5]

[Mind : 1]

[Soul : 1]

[Natural Armor: 4]

[Natural weapons:

Fangs: strength*1 damage (25), anti-armor 2

Feet and fists: strength*2 damage (50), anti-armor 1]

[Capacity :

Abyss Eyes Black Hook Armoured storage bags]

|Abyss Eyes : Your eyes are used to hunt in the most outlandish environments. Darkness and obscurity are of no avail on you, and the enemies’ motions are more and more predictable the longer you fight with them. Beware, you can still be surprised.|

|Black Hook : black tentacles can come out of your arms at will, able to project themself up to ten meters and to anchor themself into most surface. Taken as a whole, tentacle of one arm are able to carry your own weight. If a tentacle is severed, it take fifteen minute for it to regen itself. If all the tentacles of an arms are severed in one go, it took a day to regen themselfs. Regeneration only work if the user is sated. Note : evolutionary paths are availables for this ability. You can discover them by fulfilling secret conditions, and then unlock them by following the instruction coupled with them.|

|Armoured storage bags : You’ve developed extensible bags useful to stock food or interesting items. Internal armour have been added to mitigate their relative weakness, canceling their Weakpoint status. Each bag can stock up to one hundred litre of objects. However, be careful to the weight, if you carry to much you will be impaired in your moves or, worst, the bags could tear apart. The whole integration slightly lower your Agility.|

[Body : 5

Strength Modifier : 5. Overall Strength : 25 Agility Modifier : 4.5. Overall Agility : 22.5 Constitution Modifier : 5. Overall Constitution : 25]

[Mind : 1

Thinking Pace Modifier : 1. Overall Thought Pace : 1 Memory Modifier : 1. Overall Memory : 1 Magic Affinity Modifier : 1. Overall Magic Affinity : 1]

[Soul : 1

Faith Modifier : 1. Overall Faith : 1 Resolve Modifier : 1. Overall Resolve : 1 Empathy Modifier : 1. Overall Empathy : 1]

If he had been able to lift his eyebrows, it would have done it, but the dragon was rather devoid of this unavoidable fashion accessory.

I dON’t kNoW wHat IT’s DOing iN tHEre tO mAkE tHe syStem giVE IT sO mUcH exPeRiEnCe, BuT I WoUlDn’T TaKe itS plAcE. He thought before he went back to sleep.

The days passed, one week, then two, the dragon drowsing as usual when he was not hunting, thus avoiding long and boring days spent doing nothing.

“Crac…” And in the middle of the third week, a small noise had disturbed the calm of the cave.

Awakened by the sound, Fürssähfen opened an eye that then contemplated an incongruous spectacle: in the middle of the basin, a pillar of green tentacles was erected, supporting a black egg four or five meters from the surface. And, on the egg, a long crack could be distinguished, perfectly visible from the violet neon-like light pouring out from it. One by one, other cracks appeared along the shell until it began to fall, revealing a humanoid body that was struggling. It was at this moment that the dragon could hear the laughter, a piercing and powerful laugh, which some would have qualified of crazy, maniac, a laugh which took up space like an expanding gas. The creature was pulling harder and harder on the tentacles covering it, exuding a violet aura that was both beautiful and unholy. Around it, the world seemed to be distorting, as if reality was beginning to form a vortex around the little thing…

Eleonor

Her bonds gave in one fell swoop and the blue world crashed on her like a wave trying to swallow her up, giving her a powerful headache.

Yes! HAHAHA ! This is life ! She thought while embracing the pain that splashed on her, drinking it, absorbing it to become stronger.

|Ding ! through a trial, your latent soul as slightly opened. You have acquired the passive capacity “Old Soul.”|

|Ding! You have lived a painful experience, so painful that even a God would have bent its knees, and you have freed yourself from it by the simple strength of your Soul. Now, for you, pain and pleasure are but one thing, those feelings mingling and mutually strengthening themself to make you feel alive, and for you to remain so. You have acquired the mixed capacity “Pain Conversion”|

|Old Soul : your soul is old, extremely old, it conceals a thousand and one secrets and experiences of countless and varied life. Acquisition conditions of all classes and capacities are reduced. You can now learn things that only your Soul can provide.|

|Conversion of Pain: you have learned to accept pain, to use it to nourish yourself, and something inside your soul was awakened . From now on, any source of pain will produce identical pleasure, and any source of pleasure will produce identical pain, in intensity, type and feeling. Pain and pleasure make you feel alive, and make you want to stay that way. Feeling these emotions gives you a bonus proportional to their intensity, minimum 0, no maximum.

Current bonus: Key characteristics * 2,068 - Regeneration * 4,136 - Armor +1 - Damage +1 - All Resistors *1,534|

bewildered by the mass of notification, the actual first time this game system reminded her of its existence, Eleonor read slowly and carefully all the information presenting themself to her, the pain and pleasure of her headache mingling to help her focus. She stood there for a while.

Little OnE ? then asked the dragon, bringing Eleonor out of her reflection by imposing its head in the field of vision of the young woman.

Ha. Fürssähfen, I am glad to see you ! She said to him by thought, smiling and energetic.

ArE YOU all riGHt ?

Yes, yes, don’t worry. I have a couple of questions, though, okay ?

Of coURsE, I’M noT goNNa sPIt oN A CoNvErSaTIOn AfTer AlL, Ha ! aND ThEn YoU CaN TAlK tO ME AbOuT WhAT HappEnEd In YoUr HeAd.

Yep !