LIVIA'S POV - 1 HOUR BEFORE THE AWAKENING
I finished typing and blinked twice. The light from the smartphone was irritating my eyes.
"Twenty seven percent…" I muttered, then I took a moment to contemplate the pink kitten case of my smartphone. I'd had it since high school and hadn't been able to change it, or rather, I didn't want to.
"Cute" I said before putting my phone in my skirt pocket.
Resting the back of my neck against Leo's breast, still on her lap I hugged myself with her arms and closed my eyes.
'Maybe, she won't get mad if I told her… although I'll get furious if I were in her place'
I was distressed, overwhelmed, and on the verge of collapse. After I recovered from the panic attack I'd suffered, I started rereading and listening to the audio recordings I'd made of my conversation with Milly.
Not only had I organized my notes, but I'd also added more information from my own status window and Milly's.
One of the most notable additions was the new ability I gained with the evolution of Hyperfocus.
[Fractal]
You are very good at analyzing things that you like. You can easily understand almost anything that catches your attention at first glance. You are good at noticing the hidden patterns, mysteries and different theorems in order to understand concepts, situations or people.
What an ordinary person will take a week to comprehend, it will take you an hour.
Additionally, you can partition your mind into different 'personas' to dedicate yourself exclusively to certain problems or situations that require your attention simultaneously. (NEW)
—
It wasn't bad. In fact, it sounded good; however, it also sounded like the beginning of dissociative identity disorder.
'I guess I am going crazy after all...'
Cough, Cough.
I coughed and covered my mouth. My throat was a little itchy. Just a little.
Another notable thing I did was include all the messages that the 'Goddess Who Follows the Rules' had sent me in my notes—including the 7150 messages I'd barely glanced at.
I decided to address her by her alias in my notes, since every time I tried to write the word 'Fate' something would happen. Either my smartphone would freeze, or the note wouldn't save, or my smartphone would slip and fall to the ground.
Something didn't want me typing the full name. I confirmed this when I tried to use the Augury, but it gave me no answer.
I assumed it was some kind of divine censorship or something like that which I had not yet been able to decipher.
Augury could give me an answer or two if I phrased the question well, but it always stopped when I tried to bring 'the divine' into the conversation.
"Will Milly explode if I tell her about her husband?"
[Augury: …]
"She wouldn't do something crazy like commit suicide if I told her, right?"
[Augury: …]
And of course, it didn't seem to answer direct questions about Milly either.
However, I wanted to hold on to something. Augury specified that the future could evolve based on how the rules changed.
'So perhaps there was something, some rules that could make this whole mess turn out alright.'
The problem was finding those rules, which were surely linked to that rule.
'And the more I think about it, the more it seems my life is predetermined.'
Cough, cough, cough.
"God…my throat is killing me" I blurted out, in a dry and irritated tone.
Everything annoyed me, and my head ached. What bothered me most was knowing that someone so irresponsible existed, calling herself a Goddess, entrusting her "last will" to a girl who just a few weeks ago was crying over the death of her favorite character.
I sighed and held Leo's hands tightly next to mine to calm myself down.
I looked at her or at him—I wasn't sure anymore—out of the corner of my eye.
'What am I supposed to do now, Leo…'
She was the last thing I needed to record in my notes in detail. It's not that I didn't want to, it's that I felt... strange.
I knew more about her, especially from all the anecdotes Milly shared, but I didn't know the most important thing. Her past, or more importantly, why she was now a woman.
I had my theories, but I couldn't draw any conclusions since I hadn't seen Leo's status window. It's not that I didn't want to see it, it's just that—it scared me.
I asked Augury a question at the time, but the answer didn't leave me very reassured.
"Will everything be alright if I look through Leo's window?"
[Augury: NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! ]
I sighed.
And that was without even having dealt with the elephant in the room.
[This is the 501st time that time has reverted since the fall of The Goddess of Change.]
"There's a missing line," I muttered.
If I compare the information Truthsight gave me with what I saw in Milly's window, I can understand why she feels things are 'weird' this time.
Something or someone—just like her—can travel or traveled to the past. And perhaps changed something that triggered a butterfly effect that caused her husband to be reborn as a woman.
'AHHHHHHHHHHH, I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THINKING ABOUT THESE THINGS WHEN I DIDN'T EVEN TAKE THE ENTRANCE EXAM? GOD, I HATE YOU ALL, I HATE EVERYONE, STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF.'
I clutched my head, digging my nails into it. A slight tremor shook us, which didn't help my balance, causing me to fall from Leo's lap and hit my face on the floor.
I crashed hard and felt a sharp pain in my face, and a few scratches too. The floor was hot.
Sniff Sniff
'I want to go home…'
There was no Earth to return. My parents were surely dead, Abi and Rose were surely dead, and I was surely going to die too.
I lifted my face slightly and looked into the darkness of the tunnel. A little blood and mucus fell to the ground as I did.
Milaine still hadn't returned. And that worried me, but at the same time, it relieved me. As twisted as it seemed, my mind sought refuge in the procrastination of that uncomfortable conversation.
'I'm disgusting...'
I stood up. Or at least I tried to; my hands and arms felt very weak and I could barely get to my knees.
COUGH! COUGH!
I covered my mouth with both hands because of the sudden cough that shook me. Then I separated them a little and there I saw it.
"Blood? I don't understand... I barely fell..." I said hoarsely as I saw the mouthful of blood that had escaped from my mouth, and was now forming a small puddle on the ground.
Then I noticed my throat hurt terribly, my whole body was sweating, my eyes were itchy, and my whole body was trembling.
Every breath hurt, the air was barely coming in properly and it was becoming less and less. I felt dizzy, and I couldn't stop panting.
"W-what's wrong?"
[Decay Resistance is active]
[Fire Resistance is active]
I looked around frantically and fearfully. The cave was still quiet and dark. There was nothing.
Cough Cough.
I heard another cough, this time not from me. I turned around; it was Leo. She had coughed up a little blood too.
A chill ran through my body. My head started to ache again, but this time all my thoughts were focused on one thing.
Survival.
The world around me became clearer, some of the darkness disappeared. And everything began to move in slow motion, and my senses reached a fever pitch.
[Fractal has activated]
'There's something. Something is killing us.'
I needed to find the source. I scanned the surroundings again, this time more carefully. I didn't see anything. I heard sounds of something falling in the direction of the tunnel Milaine had gone through, and also in the opposite direction.
Looking at the ground, I noticed small vibrations in the rock. It could be the cause, or it might not be. Then, as I tried to breathe, I noticed the problem.
The air was dense; it was an oxygen problem.
'Poisoning'
Of course that was it, we were in a cave surrounded by a volcanic environment, the level of sulfur and other toxic gases had risen.
'But why now?'
As quickly as the thought of why it had happened arose, it was replaced by images that flooded my mind.
I didn't have time to think about anything else; I needed to find something that would help me. I searched through my science and biology classes from high school, and a few from elementary school.
My mind was desperately searching for everything related to gas poisoning; I was desperately searching for a biological principle—a rule to change.
I found something—a first aid lesson—that volunteer firefighters had given in PE class a few years back. It was about carbon monoxide poisoning.
[Golden Rule has activated]
Immediately, a golden dome formed around us. Oxygen came in gasps, and I kept breathing while my hands held me up.
I still felt bad, but at least I felt like I could move. At least my body wasn't letting in any gases other than oxygen inside.
I quickly crawled as best I could towards Leo, and shook her.
"Leo! Leo! Leo, wake up!"
She wasn't responding. I put my hand to her nose, then to her wrist and confirmed she was breathing.
"Le-"
A terrible pain shot through my chest and made me stop dead in my tracks. The golden dome around us flickered for a second.
It was my lungs; they felt like they were being torn apart. Even though I wasn't getting any more gas, breathing still hurt.
I turned my head toward the path that led to the opening in the ceiling—where Milly went— and screamed.
"H-HELP!"
I felt my voice shatter, as if it were being ripped apart with a fork. I held back the tears and screamed again.
"M—MILLY HEEELP!"
Nothing. The only sound was the echo of my voice through the darkness, and the stifled groan I let out in pain.
I got up as best I could, using the wall for support. My body felt heavy, my legs were trembling, and breathing hurt.
I looked in that direction again and clasped my hands near my mouth to scream once more, only this time I didn't.
There in the darkness, thanks to the fact that everything looked a little clearer while using Fractal, I saw something.
For a moment I thought it was a hallucination caused by pain, then I thought it was a mark on the wall, but a few seconds later I managed to clearly define what it was.
A round body, eight long, hairless legs, and four pairs of glassy, lifeless eyes that looked like gems. A spider—or what must have been one—the size of a bear and the same color as the wall was stuck to it.
If it weren't for the variation in textures that became visible when it moved, I would have been unable to distinguish it from the wall.
'OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, NO NO NO NO!!!'
I took a deep breath, then lunged next to Leo, opened her mouth, and expelled all the air I had. Immediately afterward, I breathed again, this time for myself, and changed the rule of how light reflectivity worked to make us invisible.
[Golden Rule has changed another rule]
I held my breath, and I covered my nose and Leo's. I tried to minimize the amount of toxic fumes and hopefully avoid being devoured.
The spider that had been walking towards us didn't stop; it just kept walking.
I started to feel panic, an indescribable horror as I watched it get closer and closer. The same horror I felt that day when that almost happened.
My eyes burned, my throat ached, and I could barely breathe. I didn't understand anything, and the worst part was seeing everything in slow motion.
What had once felt like relief was now torture; every sensation was registered, and I was hyper-aware of every millisecond that passed.
Seconds felt like minutes; I felt like I was being devoured in my own mind, like I was drowning.
[Fractal is resonating]
However, my mind was still working, even with the panic, pain, and anguish; my subconscious was still there. It was as if my mind had split.
One part of my brain endured the physical pain, another drowned in fear, and the other—the logical one—searched for a solution. Time and the lack of oxygen only made this last part work even faster.
Milaine wasn't responding, Eleonora wasn't waking up, and I couldn't make a sound. The solution had to be somewhere else. I looked for it where I could still move.
Inside.
I wanted to check my window, but opening it was too slow; I'd lose a second. Instead, I simply memorized what was on it and recalled it in my mind.
[Status Window]
Name: Olivia Reed
True Name: [The Seeker of the True Rule]
Class: [Seer]
Gifts: [Augury] [Truthsight] [Golden Rule]
Innate Abilities: [Fractal] [Acid Resistance] [Decay Resistance] [Fire Resistance]
Flaws: [Devotion] [Minor Kink — Sitophilia] [Minor Kink — Submissive] [Minor Kink — Mommy Kink]
—
[Augury]
You are a person with a close connection to time and fate. Calling you a seer is no exaggeration, it is who you are.
By calming your mind and focusing your attention, you perceive a sign from fate about the outcome of a specific action you intend to take in the next hours.
You need to ask a question, and the response you discern is simple: yes or no.
There is no limit to what you can ask, but it is recommended not to get obsessed with the answer. Since the future may change according to how the rules evolve.
Please don't forget that, Olivia.
—
I scanned the description in a fraction of a second; I found nothing useful. Augury could answer questions, but I had to vocalize them, and making noise was suicide.
I immediately moved on to the next one.
[Truthsight]
You are one who can seek the truth behind all things. Calling you a seeker is no exaggeration, it is who you are.
With a conscious blink of your eyes, your vision shifts. You can discern falsehoods and hidden truths. You can instinctively tell when a creature lies.
By focusing your gaze and willing it, you may also perceive the status windows of any being. You have access to more information than a normal window could provide.
—
'Any being'
The words echoed in my psyche, at the same time that my brain subconsciously called another.
The flaws are the counterpart of both, for any Gift you get or new Innate Ability you develop you gain a new flaw related to that.
It was a simple explanation, perhaps even incomplete or simplified, that Milaine gave when we first met. But to my brain, it was a possible way out.
If the spider had a status window, it was likely governed by the same rules as us. It could have an Innate Ability, and therefore a linked flaw.
'A weakness'
Opening the window would take me a second; maybe I had two or three seconds of clean oxygen left before I had to breathe again.
But it was the best I had at that moment.
I didn't hesitate any longer and consciously blinked, focusing on the spider. Another fraction of a second passed before I could completely close my eyes and open them.
After a second that felt like an eternity, the window finally appeared.
[Status Window]
Name: None
Classification: [Elemental][Monster]
Race: [Fobea]
True Name: None
Class: [Vagabond]
Gifts: None
Innate Abilities: [Camouflage] [Web] [Phobia]
Flaws: [Unisensory] [Constrained] [Resonance]
—
I was right. I could get an idea of what the abilities did just from the names, so I just focused on the Flaws to win more time.
[Unisensory]
You have a huge decrease in all senses except smell. But you're especially good at recognizing the smell of blood.
—
[Constrained]
You are a predator that needs its hunting area. Outside your web you move much slower than normal
—
[Resonance]
If the creature affected by the phobia stops being afraid of your presence, the phobia will resonate and bounce back to you. You will suffer a fear stun of equal duration.
—
At the same speed that I read the information, my brain processed it and I immediately changed the rule back to block toxic gases.
[Golden Rule has changed another rule]
I breathed as best I could. The part of my mind that was dealing with the pain screamed and cried from the ache in my throat and lungs, but the critical and logical part kept working.
The creature was still there, getting closer. But at least I knew it was blind, or at least mostly so. So the problem of being 'seen' disappeared.
I touched my mouth, at the same time as I looked at the pool of blood I had spat on the ground. That was what the spider 'saw'.
The blood.
I lowered my hands and covered my fingers with my blood, then I began to splatter it everywhere. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor.
It seemed to work. At least for a moment, the spider stopped, and as it did, it became almost invisible again.
I turned to Leo, grabbed her by the shoulders, and started shaking her with all my might.
"L-LEO! PLEASE, PLEASE WAKE UP!"
But she didn't move, there was no response. I kept screaming, but perhaps because my perception of time was distorted, what were surely seconds felt like hours.
My screams were fake, devoid of emotion. It was my logical mind speaking; I wasn't calling for Eleonora because of my emotions or feelings. That part of me was drowning in the panic the monster was causing.
At that moment, I was just looking for a solution. And she wasn't meeting the metric.
'Ah... there's no point...'
I let go of Leo and crawled toward the wall again. I dug my nails in and weakly tried to stand up.
I didn't know how, but I managed. The spider—the Fobea—had moved again. The blood trick had worked, but only slightly; it had already changed course.
'So this thing ate Milly... ha... and I was worried for nothing... I wonder what will happen now...'
I saw the golden dome begin to flicker, at the same time as my vision grew darker and darker.
Then I silently stared at my own reflection through the creature's eyes and an idea occurred to me.
Turning off the part of my mind that felt the emotions, could activate the Fobea Resonance and with that I might be able to escape. But as soon as the idea arose, the other part of my mind—the emotional one—refused to consider abandoning Leo. The thought of dying there with her was more beautiful.
[You are being affected by Devotion]
I let my legs give way and rested my back against the wall.
'Ha…I really…I'm really disgusting…Aren't I?'
[Golden Rule has ended]
At the same time as the golden dome broke, I managed to see, reflected in the spider's eyes, how the light in my eyes went out at the same time as the creature's jaws lunged towards me.
***