HELEN'S POV
The words of the quest echoed in my head repeatedly my eyes never leaving the Gurser. Its hollow husks were now empty, devoid of the flame even as its skull burned. Like it had given up the fight.
The words made no sense no matter how I looked at it and honestly, Cole's warning was the only reason it felt like something to be considered.
'To save them. If unable to avenge their mortal husks.'
The dusty cobwebs, rotten wood, and silent tower made one thing clear. Whoever was asked to save did no saving. Which meant avenging their mortal husks was next. Mortal husks.
"Don't tell me these are the bodies of the original netizens. Those who actually owned or lived here,". it was too obvious. Which meant that she was...
Hilde shook her head. It was confusing here.
She looked at Cole who smiled knowingly but nodded encouragingly for her to continue while he waited. She looked back to the Gurser sensing no free hint from the guy.
'Why avenge their mortal husks?.No, no. Why even use such word wording? Normal statements for vengeance wouldn't have the time for such addition of words.' She frowned. 'Speech pattern of the netizens or a way to denote something deeper. A message.'
Kneeling she stared at the husk. " What did you want me to know?". She could clearly remember its attempt at a speech earlier.
"Mortal husks. Why husks?" she tapped her forehead in frustration like the information was hidden there. Cole raised an eyebrow at this action whilst still smiling.
"Can I ask a question that won't break your rules?"
"As long as it's not a direct answer to your confusion then yes I guess". Cole answered leaning close, his gray eyes gleaming with eagerness.
"Why can't you just say it's lost its soul? Do you have to be such an annoyance. "she hissed. Cole froze eyes widening. Then he paused and sighed as he noted her look before smiling.
"You figured it out eh? Hehehe" he chuckled.
"Yeah. you reacted pretty badly now which meant the answer to that question was a negative. Not just that. You stopped me from killing it. You tried to outplay your interference by citing trash. No offense. I guess because of those rules you keep mentioning." she looked at his features hoping for a reaction or something. Cole just stared blankly his smile still there.
"But you could have come before. Or after I beheaded him. You could have even arrived say when I was about to exit the door of the bedroom."
"How would I know?." He defended hands raised but his cheeks still stretched in that foolish smilé.
"Because you came exactly when it was needed. Then your words. Use for your benefit." Helen noted his lips shift a bit more like he was suppressing the widening of his smile.
"You could have just left that out of your words since well I've killed a lot of these things and received both ORP and Shards. I even mentioned it and you reacted. But you still said those words. Why?".
Hilde stood right before the Gurser and then without looking at Cole spoke.
" You're trying to tell me something important. Just as important as killing and getting its shard. You know its shard is just as important, right? So how does one get a shard without killing it?" All her questions received silence, eyes looking from one spot to another then back to her. Hilde never needed an answer. Her hand raised and she looked at it as it slowly pulsed with veins of gold streaking up her forearms.
"Why a husk though? If a husk then what powers them? Why do they become bones when the flames within them leave if their souls are still within? Seriously, I'm thinking in the direction of Tora's elementals but that sounds and feels different."
Cole looked at her narrowed his eyes and looked away. The left side of her cheek stretched in a smirk.
Her hand touched the Gurser as her lips moved.
"They're like the unknown, aren't they? While changed by the flames, they're also trapped in it or something." Divinity poured into its skull.
"The very fact that I have said all this while you make those funny eye stares, and no attempts to correct or steer me away..." she looked back to him, eyes now a vibrant gold. "...means I'm half right but somehow still right".
Cole smirked unable to hold himself back as the purifying stream of gold flooded the trapped being. It filled its bones as they shuddered and crept over the fires in its eyes, each tongue of red flame shivering like a leaf.
Like a bind, the flames were snuffed and the system spoke.
> [Gurser - Flame Worshipper has been purified]
> [Divinty of Flames has been cleared]
> [You have received a Little Shard of Divine Fire]
> [+15 ORP]
> [Replace activation element]
> [Y/N]
The information for it was little. Warning of the husk crumbling into the same pile of bones if not given something to anchor its soul to the body of bones. Like a force holding it. Hilde still did not understand but she felt like yes was the preferred choice.
With her affirmation, a shiver ran through her and exited the fingers still placed on the Gurser.
The sound of hands hitting together shook her out of the stupor she was in. With it the shock of the feeling she just had left her. Taking away her eyes she missed the changes happening.
Her gaze fixed on Cole who kept beaming like a proud father while clapping and nodding.
"Your ability to see what isn't there is exquisite." he stopped as he rose his gray eyes flashing dangerously.
"I need you to accept my deal. "
Hilde frowned. 'Is he going to force a deal on me now? Maybe it's not too bad? If the rewards and benefits are good’.
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Hilde knew from her fight with the Gurser earlier and the battle with the destroyer that strength was nothing when compared to skill. A skilled swordsman could slay a dragon in games after all. Just as a little human could kill a Titan.
As realistic as it all was at the end of tbe day it was still a game. The impossible was meant to happen. She lacked the skills that most pro players had. This meant soon when the heat of her luck and her early jump ahead of the others cooled down there would be possible contenders for the throne.
If this guy wanted her to cut a deal. Then Hilde knew what she wanted.
"Fine. I'll accept. But you must and will train and teach me all about surviving what this game has to throw.".
"World. Not game. Done. A lot of rules might be broken but there's a sure workaround for them".
"My Merlin." She smiled.
Cole stopped. He looked at her with a weird gaze. His eyes rose as he made several gestures in the air before finally freezing hand hanging mid-air.
"So basically I have to be your...nope. Not happening". he grunted. Staying in one place was not a thing he would do.
" Just until I'm strong enough to not need your lessons". She reasoned. 'Plus my social experiment '
Cole tapped his lips before nodding.
"That's feasible. I do need you to be capable enough for my assignments." he waved a hand and out of the air a parchment of paper appeared. It floated to her and dropped into her palms.
"Read and sign later. For now, finish this tower and do some... " he vanished before his words were completed.
Hilde looked at the parchment for a second before turning back to the Gurser. Or what was once a Gurser? The stones and ice around it had rolled off after its purification. She'd not even been focused to hear the cracking.
The flames were gone. Once hollow and blackened skull toughened and solidified with hardened rocks and earth. Its skeletal frame now had several pieces of black rocks and stones sealed into a fixed state like cooled magma.
Like a golem forged into a skeletal form. Thicker arms and broader shoulders. The armor was cracked and broken hanging off its body by thin strips of metal.
But it was its eyes. Its eyes aglow with white light. Not golden or red like divinity or fire, but white. A color she had not seen yet. The Gurser itself seemed to be logical enough to appraise itself before looking up at her. Then it repositioned itself unto one knee.
Its rock-like teeth clattered together as it attempted speech.
"Greeting Creator. My thanks for ridding me of the fires of Tartarus".
Eyes wide, brows raised she leaned forward and asked.
"Did you..." she raised a finger slowly pointing at it"... just talk?".
*****
> [????? - Spark Bearer]
An option to name my new creation appeared over its head. Like a tag showing it was still unclassified therefore no more a Gurser.
The former Gurser stood there silently like it was being judged. I thought about it precariously for a moment. The game had an emphasis on names, races, and lore. It was like it gave each its very own importance. One standing for something, the other defining its maker, and then the last a truth.
Which made her ponder about the name for that long. Also because she wanted something that resounded well.
"A former Gurser, once bone and skull, purified and bounded to me. Like a child but not truly mine. Seeking vengeance even with a mummified body".
"An Unborn".
> [Unborn - Spark Bearer]
> [Ist of the Unborn, Bearers of the Divinity of the Spark]
The prompt left Hilde in more contemplation. The system was knowingly or not filling gaps for her. The only problem was that most of these gaps were so far apart that they left a widely incomplete puzzle piece.
The Gurser once a Bearer of the Flame had been purified and then lost its former status. Filling it with something to keep it alive she'd formed an Unborn, a spark bearer.
Divinity.
Hilde didn't know how the spark got into the unborn but she had an idea. Using Akasha she pulled up the now familiar table she was used to.
'Best not to confuse myself with the old table from The Will'.
[Welcome to the Rack Of Life Creator 79]
[Record position - Absolute]
[SCREEN 1]
[Host - Hildelith 'Fearghal' Ironstone]
[Moniker - The Warrior One]
[Feats - Creation's Witness, Motivated, Source Point Creator, Striking Out
[Titles -One of the Speakers, Ender of the Beginning]
[Entity - Creator 79]. [Race - Nothing]
[Racial Type - Primordial Nothingness Entity]
[Level - 16(780/1600]. [Health - 24/24(960/960)
[Core - One -Spark]. [Karma - #]
[Cultivation Base - Null]
[SCREEN 2]
[Higher Energies Used - Nothingness/100%, Aether/100%, Primordial Chaos/90%, Divinity/100%, Akasha/100%]
[Lesser Energies Used - Null]
[Elements - Life, Earth, Space]
[Physicalities. [Abstract
Might - 250+(50) Focus - 245(247.5)+20
Mobility - 315+(30) Perception - 10
Physicality - 260, Abstract - 255(249.9)20
Defense - 10(30) Soul - 10
MOA - # Akasha - #
[Free Stat Points - 80]
[SCREEN 3]
[Racial Perks- Absolute Nothingness Authority]
[Racial Perk Skills - Form of Nothing, Nothingness Empowerment/5%, Primordial Nothingness Generation
[Racial Perk Skills - Nothingness Handblast, Sword Beam Cut, Nothingness Saturation, Nothingness Removal
[Racial Ability - Balance Aspect]
[Racial Skills - Spellcasting, Balance Magic,
[Racial Skills - Non-existent
[Racial Ability - Universe Force Manipulation]
[Racial Skills - Astronomical Object Manipulation, Astronomical Matter Creation
[Racial Skills - Subatomic Manipulation
[General Skills - Eye of The Unseen, Aether Projection, Extra Sensory Perception, Godform, Primordial Chaos Generation, Eye of Fate, Divinity Generation, Aether Generation, Divinity Emission, Divine Cloak/10%, Aura/5%, Sword Might/13, Dagger Master/18, System Creation, Soul Erasure Resistance, Akasha Generation, Mystical energies generation, Energy Storage, Divine Devour, Divine Empowerment, Energy Metabolization, Holy Breath, Primordial Ice]
[Akasha Magic - Life, Death, Elemental, Space]
[Arts - Primordial Chaos Arts, Soul DaoArts, Elemental Arts]
[Insights - Divine Purity, Earthen Grace, Spark Splitter]
[Inventory - SHARDS, 172(Lesser), 69(Minor), 1(Little), 1(Divine). ITEMS - Xena's Chakram, Harbinger, Sword Of Murre, Bane of Heroes, Mask of the Fortunate, Ring of the Lost, Royal ??? Tunics, Royal ??? Pants, Royal ??? Shirts, Royal ??? Gowns, Royal ??? Boots]
[Equipped - Hera's Gown, Cloak of the Absolute, Crown of the Supreme, Atlas Belt, Boots of Hermes, Vulkans Prize,]
> [Shop]
> [EYE OF THE WORLDS]
"One spark" She looked at this thing that had been here since the very beginning. Unchanging and unchanged. Yet reforming and affecting her. There was no information on it. Just a buzz and crackle like a storm that she couldn't hear past.
Whatever it was, Hilde was certain it had to do with the bearers of the spark divinity. Just like it had helped in forming Rack of Life and Akasha.
Another piece of information was gotten, another gap filled, yet a lot more questions arose while the old ones were left unanswered.
For now, though the one gap she had discerned was simple. Divinity of the flame, Divinity of the Spark. One from her and one from obviously not the other 99 creator players.
Even if one had managed to come here it was a certainty that the lore spoke of something else. Which canceled out the 99 creators.
Leaving one option that was maddening to assume.
"When all other options are nonexistent. Then the least possible because the most probable." Hide muttered.
"It seems there are more beings than just the Creators in existence". her eyes stared into the spot where Cole had vanished a frown etched on her face.
She knew somehow, more of this lore had something to do with him. She felt it deep within her.