Querying Level Database… Failed: Invalid party_member_id

A sharp pain surged through Haru’s body as the iridescent bundle of tendrils wrapped around her and thrashed back and forth. The demon’s lashes raised her high into the air and smashed her into the stone floor. Bricks cracked around the impact point. Then he slid her along the ground only to do it again. And again. Over and over.

The first strike sent pain throughout, but the second blew it away as fast as it set in, numbing her to even the hurt produced from Irae’s grasp.

The harder Irae thrust her through the air and smashed her into the ground, the slower time became. Each crash caused moments to draw out longer and longer. Until soon, Haru had minutes upon minutes to think between each rise and smash. But these found moments didn’t help her. She couldn’t move her body.

Not only that, but the tilt of her head and craning of her neck had a noticeable lag, disjointed from her desire to move and look around. The sounds of the stone shattering beneath Irae’s tendrils echoed out, distorted and artifacting, skipping and repeating. Soon the colors of the sky blended in a streaking blur. The clouds lost their definition, with chunky cubes of individual grays filling the space. The fire tornadoes melded into chunks of red atop small squares of orange.

The world started to lose its definition. Every detail eventually faded behind a base color, shapes bleeding into simple squares both large and tiny. Everything became like this, even Irae and Opti.

But not the sibyl, and not Oracle’s raven form, still perched on the tattered ruins of one of the thrones. While their motion was slow just like everything else, they retained their definition. As Haru’s surroundings faded into simple shapes, these two floated atop them, hovering atop the chaotic mosaic consuming everything.

Finally, a jolt shook Haru, and the sound of smashing continued to skip in a tight loop. The world stopped as iridescent squares blended amid gray rectangles. Then she stopped moving.

Everything halted.

Haru was imprisoned in this perditious patchwork, unable to move at all. Not even her desire to take in her surroundings could urge her head to rotate.

Then the cold hum of the surrogate machine filled her ears. And the chill of the chair filled her bones. Her sight suddenly faded to black.

With the same force Irae slammed her into the ground, Haru rocketed into the metal grating of the surrogate deployment area. Sparks flew around her as the chair ripped the scaffolding from the ceiling and tore the overhead lights from their mounts.

She hit the ground and caused the window that separated the area from the control room to rattle, then crack from the violent vibration caused by her impact.

Winded from the sudden slam, Haru could move her body once more. She gasped and stretched her arm, finding her hand covered in the lace glove of her normal boss uniform. She was back in her purple dress, stockings and boots.

Struggling to her feet, weakness permeated every inch of her body caused by the pain and disorientation of the impact. Somehow, Irae’s strike must have transferred through her character and into her actual body. With shaking arms, she pushed herself upwards. The cold caused a painful shiver to run down her spine.

Standing in mostly darkness, with only a faint light from the control room, Haru was still disoriented from the sudden expulsion from the game.

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“Hello?” Haru called out, hoping Professor Min was still in the control room. She took a moment to catch her breath. “Is anyone there?” Her voice was raspy as the pain in her gut persisted.

She limped forward and strained to bend down and pick up her purple wide-brimmed witch’s hat. Then Haru placed it on her head. She hobbled toward the control room. But the metal door was sealed tight with no handle.

“Is anyone there?” Haru pleaded. “Can you let me out?”

Haru hobbled over to the wall where the auto-assistants emerged in order to prep her for entry. She prodded at the non-descript wall in the dark, hoping to find some sort of throughway or that the wall would part. “Is anyone there?” She tried to pound on the wall but only produced a frail rapping.

Still in pain from the impact, she staggered away from the wall and started to tumble forward. Haru caught herself by her legs and propped herself up, pushing against her thighs to get upright.

The call of a raven behind caused Haru to spin. “Oracle.”

The blue-clad sage stepped forward with her crook producing a warm yellow glow, illuminating the wreckage of the surrogate device around her. “New-fangled doohickies. In my day, we had to come up with our own visage.” She prodded a shredded metal beam with the base of her staff.

Haru tilted her head. “I don’t know what that means.” She spoke with a faint voice, inhaling sharply to not pass out.

“Just an old crone’s ramblings.” Oracle shook her head.

“We’re trapped.” Haru winced. “I can’t open the door from this side and—”

“Patience.” Oracle smiled. “There are times to go fast, and others to be steady.” She motioned toward the control room window.

A horde of assistants rushed in behind Professor Min, all of whom wielded prybars and mallets.

“Hang... there...” Min leaned over the control panel and spoke into the microphone attached. The speaker hanging over the window inside the surrogate deployment area, mangled and dangling from its own wires, boomed out his distorted and broken voice. “We’re... getting you...”

The thick metal door began to buckle at the seams as the dozens of nurse-like robo assistants hammered prybars into the doorjamb and yanked in a bid to free the stuck gateway.

After a few moments, the assistants clawed at the metal and bent the door open, the material whining as it was slowly sheered open. After much screeching and groaning from the door, the way was clear as it was broken free from the cylindrical internal locks.

Haru hobbled over to the exit and made her way into the control room.

“There was a malfunction with the device.” Min shook his head. “We lost audio and video not long after you entered but were able to track your character through the admin portal.” He motioned toward the mangled door. “Once you entered Leonora’s Encounter, we lost all contact, and the door sealed shut. It took some deliberation from the Magi, but we were just about to abort mission and pull you out.” He motioned toward the wreckage in the shadows. “But it seems that was done for us.”

“This is...” Haru turned around to introduce Oracle but found no one following behind. She leaned over the control panel to gaze into the surrogate area but found no sign of the sage.

Min blinked and adjusted his glasses. “Are you alright?”

She took a deep breath, fighting through agony. “I have to get back to Waylander’s Wastes.” Haru started to catch her breath, and the pain in her body eased.

Min shook his head. “We’ve been summoned by the Magi, I’m to take you to them immediately.”

“I have to go right now.” Haru balled her hand into a fist and pressed against her thigh.

“This is dire, I can’t just—” Min started.

“Please.” Haru’s voice was direct, insistent.

The professor searched her eyes and squinted. “I... I can’t.” He shook his head.

Haru clenched her teeth and sighed. “We didn’t do all this for nothing. You put a lot of faith in me. I only ask you to have just a little more. This isn’t over yet. I have to end it.”

Min scratched his curly hair and groaned while straightening his white lab coat.

“Please.” She spoke, hushed.

The professor sighed. “I really liked this job too...” He looked away and wagged his hand while pulling up a command menu. He flipped through and started deleting the audit logs of the assistants.

Haru burst into a sprint to run through the open door back out to the main hall.

“Haru.” Min called out over his shoulder.

She slid to a stop just at the doorway.

“If anyone asks, we never had this conversation.” He continued to tinker in the menu. “Good luck.”

Haru nodded and latched onto the doorway to hurl herself out. She sprinted through the Academy’s white tile atrium and out onto the Backlot double-wide avenue. Still running as fast as she could, she reached out and summoned her staff. With a leaping mount, she took flight and soared toward the exit.

With no regard for moving clandestinely, Haru flew across the Fairbank sky, toward Waylander’s Wastes, careening toward the giant scintillating gash visible all the way from the city, carved into the beaches afar.