"Ah, I see you don't," he said, laughing and holding up his still-shackled hands. "Well — there's someone who I think she can help me find, and I'm willing to bet everything on that chance, and the chance to atone for the part I played in her... current condition. Does that satisfy you?"

It didn't, not really, but at the very least Sláine could tell he was being sincere. He clearly believed whatever 'world saving' nonsense he was spouting, and that was good enough for her; he wasn't going to stab Red in the back just as soon as Sláine got to her again.

Nodding roughly, she released him and headed for the stairs.

"Golly, you're a bit brusque, aren't you?"

He scrambled after her as she took them two at a time, more than a little grateful for the 'modification' he'd done as the chiseled stone stairs had the audacity to be uneven. In addition to all the horrors of this place, and they couldn't get themselves a decent architect for their murder-stadium?

Maybe that was part of the point. Maybe they capitalized off the fear of tripping to death.

"So, ah, really, what is the plan? While I'm fine following your lead — to an extent, at least — I'd really rather know what it is I should be doing."

Damn, wouldn't Sláine like to know that herself. Still sprinting down, she called back to him.

"How is the ceremony supposed to go? Are there any opportunities I'll have to speak to Red without anyone else seeing?"

Because that was the crux of it, wasn't it? If she could just get to Red and shake her out of it, then fighting everyone else in this place wouldn't be an issue. So far, people didn't seem to see them, but as soon as that 'dangerous presence' realized they were there — a presence that Sláine couldn't help but worry was Amoena herself — then things could get much trickier.

"Yes, right at the end, when the altar will crack and reveal the passageway to the Down Below. Lady Agriope's sponsor, the Queen-Consort, will be waiting for her down there to perform the final steps whereupon the princess will re-emerge a new woman. If we could sneak down there after them, which," He huffed. Sláine thought if he learned how to say things a bit more succinctly he wouldn't be so out of breath all the time. "I don't really know how this ‘invisibility magic’ of yours works, would that make it possible? It’d pushing it quite close."

Eh, him thinking it was 'invisibility' was convenient enough, she supposed.

"That must be the unusual presence I detected earlier, then. It should be fine, if you can distract Amoena."

Behind her, the man stopped. "D-Distract, distract her? You mean — try to stop her? I'll be — she'll kill me! I'll be eaten alive."

Sláine stopped as well, looking up at him and frowning impatiently. "Didn't you say you'd do anything for this chance?”

"Yes, but there's no way I can take advantage of it if I'm dead, and that sounds like a very obvious way to die!"

Ugh.

If she told him the truth, that none of this mattered because it was just a memory, would he freak out? Would he still help her? It's not like they were actually in the past changing things. From what Sláine could infer, something must have happened that interfered with the ceremony in this memory — or it had already happened, and the consequences of it would have already occurred.

Hm. And whichever it was might give her some hint as to how to proceed now, given that 'run in and punch it' hadn't been working out so great for her lately.

"Her becoming a priestess. Why does it stop you getting her heart back?"

"What? Oh, um," he verbally stumbled, surprised by the sudden topic change. "It's. Right now, the space where it should go is empty, but if this succeeds, she'll receive a new heart, one made of web. There wouldn't be room for her old one then."

Huh, that sort of sounded like…

If you rip all that out and put other stuff in, you create a monster.

Wait.

Wait, wait. What if this wasn't just to mess with Red, to upset her or whatever? Even if she was a historically awful mother, it did seem like a lot of effort to go to for the sheer purpose of re-traumatizing her daughter before killing her or imprisoning her again. And Red had already said that the Dark didn't like making Dungeons in Arpege, so there had to be some other motive that warranted all this — it couldn't just be coincidence and opportunity.

Logically, Amoena could have had an entirely different purpose for being here and they'd just happened to stumble into it, but under the assumption that being here was pre-planned, that she'd been going after Red in the first place… what would she need to do to force Red into becoming a Boss, or working for her, or whatever?

Red had said you couldn't be mind-controlled into becoming a Boss, even if physical changes were made, but if you altered someone's memories, that changed a person, didn't it?

"You." Red stared up at the baffled man. The man who could modify bodies. "What would it take to change someone's memories?"

By the Tree, she would murder him so very hard if she'd been fucking right in the first place and he had implementing some artificial desire to spare him inside her.

"Wh—what? I. Why does it sound like you're accusing me of something?"

Sláine took a deep breath, forcing her voice to a more even level. "Just answer the question."

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Ah, er, i-it's not something I've ever done to a person, so I wouldn't know..."

"Hypothetically, what would you need to do?"

"I — I don't know! I don't know what I need to do to get you to believe me, but I have not done that, not to a person, my work was definitely, definitely never made for that — "

"And what if your work was in the hands of someone else?"

His fists were clenched, and he stared at the floor, brow furrowed into a severe line.

"Hypothetically, yes. But the circumstances required for doing so would be absurd. You'd need another Shattered One's cooperation because they are — as far as I am aware, granted — the only kind of being specifically made for world alteration and generation capabilities, even if the project was never successful, because minds are worlds unto themselves and to alter one you'd have to—"

Sláine stopped listening at 'world alteration', because weren't they stuck in an artificial world, basically? One where fake versions of people could be generated? Aria themselves had said they didn't know how Amoena was doing this; it clearly went beyond the bounds of a normal dungeon. If Sláine was right, obviously it must be with the help of a 'Shattered One' or whatever, so maybe if she could find it she could stop all this.

She needed to get Aria’s input. Sláine began to run and, pulling up the command, [ Inspected ] the wall.

"Wait, what are you — UGH, MY PATIENCE IS VAST, BUT YOU ARE TRYING IT RIGHT NOW."

...

...Huh?

[ Inspect ] -> [ Wall ]

...Huh???

[ Inspect ] -> [ Wall ]

What was going on? Was she doing it wrong?

[ Inspect ] -> [ Wall ]

Nothing.

[ Inspect ] -> [ Stairs ]

Nothing!

[ Inspect ] - > [ Ceiling ]

[ Inspect ] -> [ Janus ]

Wait, when had —

The man let out a grunt as Sláine barreled straight into him, managing a quite admirable tumble as both he and Sláine smacked onto the ground. He had somehow managed to get past her on the stairs, cornering her in the landing before the next flight downward. She would have knee'd him somewhere unpleasant and just kept going were it not for him clearly anticipating that action and restraining her.

From the shadows, hands grabbed at her, keeping her legs and arms pinned to the floor.

"What the hell!" Sláine said, struggling, and for the first time, the man in front of her had a scowl on his face.

"I should be returning the sentiment! You can't just — ask that kind of thing and then run off without explaining!"

"We don't have time for me to explain!"

"Oh! Goodness then, my apologies, let's just get on with the plan, then! Wait, no, you don't have one aside from confronting an extraordinarily powerful Queen-Consort in her home territory! What is even going on? Are you a time traveler? How are we months in the future? Who are you? How did you even get in the Underdark, and what are you even planning to do without knowing all of this basic information about what's going on, yet you apparently have some insight into memory manipulation? And — "

Janus was just on the verge of tearing his hair out, and never more had Sláine wished she could kick someone down the stairs, but stopped at what he said next.

"Why is it that I feel like I'm supposed to trust you so much? This is driving me insane! Who are you?"

"...Wait. You — no, that's not important." Sláine struggled again. "Look, sorry, but I've somehow lost contact with the person who was giving me guidance here, which probably means - well, I don't know what it means, but it's probably bad. And this has all happened already, we're not in the past or the future or whatever, we're in a memory, and I think this is all some plot to undo whatever it is you successfully did. Getting 'Agriope' her heart back, because the Red I know certainly seems to have one, and if she doesn't, then I like the person she is just fine, and I'd really, really like to preserve that!"

Sláine huffed, and slowly, the shadow hands unwound themselves from her body, allowing her to push herself up fully onto her knees. Janus was staring at her, bottom lip firmly pressed beneath his teeth. From around them, Sláine could hear the singing rise up into a crescendo.

"We're in a memory, you say?" he said. "I succeeded in helping Princess A— Red?"

"Yes, and if you don't want your work undone, we have to find whoever orchestrated this and stop them."

[ Threat Detection ], Sláine tried, and the same information from before, just with adjusted positions to reflect their vertical movement. Why did [ Skills ] work, but not direct communication with Aria?

Ugh, what would even happen if Sláine tried to find some way into a new memory? Would that abort whatever progress would have been made in this one? Would she even be able to find the exit while Red was still here? Dammit, she wished she could just ask Aria, and hated how she'd already gotten so reliant on their opinions.

She was so out of her depth here.

"Please, tell me. It's important. Red — did you meet her on the surface?"

"Um. Yes?" Sláine said, taken off guard.

"And me. Do you know if I’m still alive?"

Sláine paused, and hoped she was making the right decision by saying, "No. You’re not."

"I… understand." Janus stood up, then offered Sláine a hand to stand as well. Too baffled to say no, Sláine accepted it. "Do you know how it happened?"

Understandable question, she supposed, but not really the time or place. Sláine was about to say so when he shook his head with a sigh. "No, I can make my assumptions, I don't need that for confirmation. Then — "

To Sláine's surprise, this time it was Janus who ran forward, Sláine left staring after him for a moment before sprinting down the final flight of stairs after him. "If this is a world with parameters defined by a Shattered One, then we need to find them," he began explaining before she could ask questions. "Then all I need from you is to distract them while I take control of the simulation."

"Simu—what?" Sláine asked, and his bright laughter echoed around him.

"Now who's asking unnecessary questions?"

...Okay, fine, touché, but — "Hold on, do you understand how a 'memory world' would work? The mechanics of it?"

"The hypotheticals, yes!"

"And — hold on, you know how to do that?" Sláine asked, realizing a lot of things simultaneously regarding just how weird this situation was. "Aria said you were just an 'artificial manifestation' of yourself based on Red's memories! If this world is constructed from her mind… then how can there be things present in it that she doesn't know about? Does she know about them? And how could you change them?"

"Well, that's just the thing," he said, jumping off the stairs and whirling around the next turn. "It sounds like your 'Aria' friend got things a bit wrong. At least, beyond technicalities. I am an artificial manifestation and this world is based on the Princess's memory, but I, most definitely, exist as 'myself' within it, because I still exist within her. If I am dead in reality, that is the most obvious conclusion I can make."

"What?"

Janus stopped, peering around a corner, and Sláine stopped beside him. There before them was an ornately decorated set of double-doors made out of the material Sláine had seen earlier, and guarding it was a pair of people with the same sorts of markings she’d seen all over the place in these memories. One of them she recognized — Latrodecus, the woman with the hourglass on her face.

"My heart. My plan was, if we did not successfully reclaim hers, I was going to make sure she received mine. If she made it to the surface and I died… then that's the only conclusion I can draw. Besides."

He treated Sláine to a bright smile that she could, most absolutely, tell was fake. "It would explain why I feel like I know you already, Sláine."

"You mean that you're… ?"

"Actually a representation of her heart, yes, at least in a manner of speaking. Now. You said that there was a 'strange threat' down here, yes? I have a feeling that's going to be our memory manipulator, so, how about it? Do you think you can raise a bit of hell and give me the opening I need to make some… alterations to this scenario?”

>> Charge into danger