(Zhenya Pov)
“Su!? You’re good. You’re good. Nothing bad is happening.” I did my best to keep a calming voice, but this attack was sudden and brutal. The recently shocked into a coma girl wildly convulsed while I wrapped her tightly in my arms. And as the worst came to pass, the girl’s eyes reservedly opened.
But contrary to someone who just rightfully fainted at the sight of their friend’s petrified corpses, Su was unnaturally calm.
“I’m okay.” Despite her insistence, Su was shaking like a newborn calf when I helped her up.
“So the puppet finally awakens.” Nirve called out from the opposing bench already on a high stride after pummelling Freddie’s statements.
As it stands Su’s statement that she struck the dungeon core was an unassailable truth that no amount of postulating could break.
Nothing held us here. We could continue looking for an exit. The avatar probably won’t do anything. And despite disagreements, Freddie and I had nothing to prove to Nirve. Him seeing things our way would be a nice bonus, though.
No. We are doing this for Su. She’s been drowning in false guilt for goddess knows how long.
Although seeing the fires in her eyes now, I can tell she had something to prove. Not to herself, not anymore. She wants to free someone else trapped in this lie.
“Nirve.” Su resolute, intoned firmly, reaching the stand. “You are as much a prisoner as I. Not just you, Ries, Mary, Ray, Gat, everyone, I will clear their legacy.”
There’s a crack in the air as Su slams her hands down on the desk. “This deceit woven from the greed and control ends today.”
“Well, well. Looks like our woman of the hour has found her soul in the midst of all this.” The avatar chipped, clearly amused by this turn of events. “As the presiding observer, I’ll bring you up to speed.
Your group was hired by Alexander Moore, an undercover agent of the Dutchy, to gather samples of a newly discovered crystal.
However, through an unknown source, he was already aware of the tribulations ahead. Specifically, requesting your group's set of skills.
After a fairly routine trip down, you found the prize, and after ignoring the pleads of yours truly, you attacked the dungeon core making off with a piece of my darling.”
“Resulting in the deaths of everyone.” Nirve chipped in, much to a resolved Su. It’s almost surreal seeing her this in control.
“I see. Then there is much hidden from us.” This got a rise out of Nirve. “To begin with, that man is indeed from the Dutchy, but he was not working alone as he routinely relayed news to his... Benefactor.”
“I’m gonna nip this inane tale right there. Here I thought you would try to defend yourself, not spin another one of your ridiculous tales! There is no way you could have known his acquaintances or that he was reporting to a benefactor. You only met him twice, once during the initial meeting and the other during the trip down!” The detective boy yelled up a storm, betrayed and upset.
“But what if I told you he had already contacted me a month in advance.”
“What!”
“What!”
“What!”
“The FUCK!”
The three of us exclaimed, with Nirve blowing a gasket.
“That can’t-. There should have been witnesses at the very least...” It was a valid reason. “Unless these were shady dealings held in the seedy underbelly of the town.”
Su’s nod only served as fuel for the shock and betrayal we were feeling. “So if anything, this only serves to incriminate you even further. You knew what would transpire that night!” Nirve countered in a fit of rage that this was seemingly more premeditated than he imagined.
“Yes and no. Somehow his group found my leash and took it for what it was worth.”
“You’re a woman with no past, no family to... Did they take someone hostage? No, no, that can’t be right. Reis would’ve raised hell if that happened.”
“In a way, I was the hostage, albeit a willing one. When the ritual was done on me, when they drowned us, we were implanted with certain phrases and ‘scapegoats’ to ensure our complete loyalty and silence.”
The three of us being, Nick, Freddie, and I stood slack-jawed in horror at the inhuman procedure. While the avatar and Nirve had a muted reaction. More like they knew, and this only confirmed it.
“How..?” The question slipped right out of Nick’s mouth.
“Our minds were blank canvases for them, no memories of the past. Putty for anyone knowledgeable in the art of mind molding.” Su replied, far too calm about the atrocities foisted on her. Drowned, her memories torn apart, and then made into a weapon.
“And somehow that man and his accomplices figured it out. A nation’s secret compromised for years right under their noses.” Su continued.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find someone willing to become a machine. Let alone continue to let it happen...” Nirve muttered out before mentally returning. “Then how did you escape their mental hold?”
“Ries, Diana, Nickolas, Zhenya, Fredrica, and everyone. They gave me the strength to break the binds that the elders put on me. That and I can only guess the mental hold needed to be restrengthened from time to time.”
“And it has been nearly four years since the incident.” Nick punctuated the point. Followed by a grunt of frustration.
“Life-shattering reveals aside, miss Sushila what happened next.” the avatar moved things along.
“During that month. The man had me divulge everything from our history, our skills, personalities. He needed everything to go off without a hitch. Of course, that is because he knew the prize would be a dungeon core.”
“But how!” Freddie piped up. “I can say with absolute certainty that knowledge of a dungeon core’s exact location doesn’t exist.”
“Oh, right. Freddie, you’re on the up and up.” The flat of my fist plop against my palm in realization.
“Shut it. I can still act like a lady when I need to. In any case, if there were news of a dungeon core being found, I would have heard of it.”
“But wouldn’t that be something only the very top would know? Not some tea time gossip to be passed around?” The avatar chirped.
“Like I said, I would know. And I stand by it.” Freddie was already annoyed enough mentioning her status.
Yeah, Nick. I know, shocker. The two guys in the room were utterly taken aback, their minds shattered into a million pieces. Yes, by the fact Fredrica was some princess.
“Alright. Back on track. While how the Dutchy figured out my hubby’s location is quite the mystery. It is irrelevant to the story at hand. Miss Su, please continue.”
“I will say, it will take more time for me to comb through and organize my memory. But as far as I can tell, the rest of the story goes much the same as I had told. We descended into the dungeon utilizing our set of abilities and reached the dungeon core.”
“And that is when that despicable man used one of those ‘scapegoats’ to force your hand.” The avatar tacked on.
“Yes. And that’s about that.”
How many times has it been these past two days where we get a truth bomb dropped on us and have to stand there awkwardly.
“.....”
“.....”
“......”
*Slam*
The silence was broken by Nirve. Hitting the desk with enough force that it echoed throughout the cloud island.
“So that’s it? Some shit about mind control, a shadowy mastermind behind it all!?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“From everything I’ve gathered and what we just heard, yeah.” Unfortunately, I had to confirm the reality of things to him. The true culprit was some nebulous entity, faceless and presence-less. It has been four years. Whoever masterminded this is long gone now.
“All these years... Blaming Su... Hahahaha.” Oooo. That’s a broken laugh if I ever heard one. “All the time I put into digging up this case. The kiddos I left behind. The hatred I endured. All for nothing. Goddammit!”
With one final scream, the boy’s upper body toppled over the surprisingly sturdy banister. “Nirve.” Su hobbled over to the broken boy.
“It wasn’t without purpose. Look around. We would not have gotten here if you had not spurred me on. We would have never found the truth of that night. Reis’s and the other’s souls would forever find unrest.” This at least brought him back to reality. “You saved me.”
“....”
He doesn't look suicidally depressed anymore, at the very least. Hopefully, this is a break through for the both of ’em.
We should probably wrap this up soon. Even through that calm mask Su is wearing, I can tell this whole trial is taking a toll on her mind. I really don’t want to know how it feels like to have years worth of memories come flooding back.
“Though, there is one last question.” I absentmindedly blurted.
“Indeed.” The avatar was far too amused with how things are proceeding, whispering things into the air.
“What’s the ring all about? It’s like the key to everything, and yet nobodies mentioned it.” You’d think it'd come up in Su’s, or Nick’s, or Diana’s, or Nirve’s, or heck, even the avatar’s story.
“Oh, that. It was a pet project Ries suddenly started working on one day.” Oh... “He was always one to do things on a whim but would throw himself completely into its pursuit.” Oh....
“But why’d ya freak out when I showed it to you.” Ehhehehe. I see that blush, Su. “Something tells me it’s more than an ordinary ring.” Smugness overwhelming!
“Well, since everything's settled, let’s get these guys down and give them a proper burial.” I’ll ease up on the teasing for now.
(With Sushila)
With the exception of Nirve, who was still a miserable pile, everybody with the consent of the avatar started, or at least tried to get the bodies down.
Chiseling the bark away from Ries’s body, as much as it hurt, the feeling was cathartic for Sushila. All that pain, guilt, fear, and uncertainty stripped away. She could finally clear his name, clean his legacy.
“Ries, you may rest easy now. Nirve and I, we’re finally free from that nightmare. Don’t worry, no matter how much time passes, I’ll be there for Nirve no matter how much he whines.”
Another chip freed his hand, a peeled bark revealing something in his grasp. “Is this?” Carefully slipping out of his death grip, the object was a gem, just the size of a droplet.
Taking the gem, Sushila brought it up to the ring, finding that it fit perfectly into the empty socket.
---------
“Woooooh! We’re on top of the world!”
“Ries, bro, you gotta settle down it’s just some boring rock.”
“Not just any rock, a gem. The first of its kind to boot.”
“Isn’t that just romantic!”
“Shhhhh, quiet down. Same goes for you, boss. What if Su hears you it’ll totally ruin the surprise.”
“Yes, mom.”
“Aghhh! I don’t want to hear that coming from you!”
The sound of laughter and merriment continued throughout the night, filling the crescent hares inn with warm feelings.
Unbeknownst to the merry group, the person in question lingered just out of view, a spry grin on her face at the group’s antics and the prospect of what’s to come.
----------------
Slipping the finished ring onto her left hand’s ring finger. A promise escaped her lips.
(Curator Pov)
“You alright letting her leave with a piece of G?”
“I’m a sucker for guys who would do anything to make their loved one happy. And besides, I doubt she’ll be coming back any time soon.” The dryad avatar grins reminiscently. “She has a promise to keep after all.”
“That reminds me there’s still something the group overlooked.”
“Hooo?”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re the only person who witnessed the group’s final moments.”
“I was still a bit woozy after the initial shock. But let’s just say to his dying breath that man always worked to make the girl he loves happy.”
Rose gazed past me towards a certain memory. “But enough about me. I can feel that listening to their tale brought you to something of a breakthrough.”
“Well, it is my mission, as self-imposed it is, to preserve stories and information. So I can’t just let the truth of what happened here stay buried now, can I?