We landed with a soft thud in the bunker

I sent a rushed message to the group letting them know I'd returned with a wounded person and that I was planning on using the last of our healing tonics to stabilise them.

A slew of questions came back but I simply asked for a few minutes and then I'd answer.

Nobody was around, which wasn't unusual.. Mya had been steadily exploring the building, reinforcing small bits here and there with Siya since we arrived, so it was likely that's where they were right now.

So I moved carefully over to my sleeping area and placed the archon down on my pile.

Oookay. How's your health, Archon..

Label: [Archon] Vyolyn (Unconscious)

MAGN: 89.801

HP: 11/2180

On the wire still eh? No matter. We'll get you sorted soon enough…

I shifted a few medical crates out of the way and found the bottle I was looking for; Our last healing tonic dose, squirrelled safely away for emergencies.

Carefully, I removed the strangely ornamental light helmet that covered her face and the top of her head, which, personally I thought it looked like pointless extra weight for what little protection it provided. I hadn't had a good look at her yet, but she had unusual silvery purple hair with a hint of violet. Her face looked far younger than I expected but she had a small slightly wider nose with dark eyebrows although, most peculiarly, there was not a spec of dirt, blood or grime on her deathly pale yet pristine complexion.

As I administered some of the healing tonic, I poured some on the stub of her missing hand, careful not to waste any, and watched her health trickle back up and flesh and bone regrow out of her stump, but it stopped after growing up to her palm, looking horrific and blood had started to trickle out so I poured the rest of the tonic. Thankfully it did the job and she was now the proud owner of one brand new fresh pink hand.

Shit. There goes all the tonic then..

(!)SEV X TASK TX(!)

PROTECT THE ARCHON AT ALL COSTS.

..

..

SUCCESS.

...

REWARDS:

SANCTUARY TECH.

CORRUPTED EXP CRYSTALS.

REWARDS INBOUND.

STANDBY..

Inbound? What do you mean?

I glanced around nervously,

How could anything be ‘inbound’ all the way in here. Please don’t say it’s going to bust through a wa-

There was a noise getting progressively louder, like a choir going 'aaaah'. It was coming from the centre of the room.

The F-

An oval of warped space burst into existence in the same location, causing the choir to reach a crescendo, and, from this anomaly, a flawless dark matte-grey box drifted out and gently landed on the floor.

The choir faded away, along with the portal, leaving me staring at the toolbox sized..Box, feeling mildly disturbed.

"Huh. That is.. creepy as hell." I said to myself.

Clearly, there were still so many components to this new world that I didn't understand and whomever or whatever the hell sent these tasks and rewards, was a very big one of them.

But not one to shy away from potential mythical or transcendental danger, I eagerly pottered over to the box which upon closer inspection, bore incredibly intricate straight-lined patterns, flowing with a breathing wave glow-effect.

Woooow..soo pretty.

I lifted the lid.

Inside was a veritable hoard of black, shiny, evil looking crystals with something liquid swirling and forming rorschach patterns inside, and, on top of them all was a small intricate cube. The cube was a dark iridescent metal that had very similar glowing lines to the box..

Analyze the cube first please.

With the mind boggling revelation that Seren was an actual entity, I decided to consider the possibility that some of my abilities might have some sentience and therefore, deserve whatever respect I could give.

Label: Sanctuary Tech Blueprint.

Notes: This blueprint can be learned by creation based classes to allow the creation of sanctuary nodes.

Okay, not helpful to me but it sounds important and I'm sure someone back home can use it.

My intuition was telling me that this was probably what generated those golden fields or the defensive shields on the walls.

Now the crystals please.

Label: Corrupted Calcified EXP Crystals

Notes: Occurs when an EXP system is shutdown and no EXP claimant is available for a certain length of time.

This variation is seeded from a corrupted entity and is extremely dangerous.

Do not consume. Do not insert in any orifice. Do not expose to extreme temperatures. Do not store near high concentrations of Majik…

The list printed out an exhaustively long list, making me wonder what the hell happened for those warnings to be added to the notes.

Just like a hot drink warning label, I get their purpose but - Do not crush into powder and snort - really?

My thoughts were cut short as loud coughing behind me nearly made me drop the cube I had been absent mindedly fiddling with. I slammed the lid shut and did a quick Slipfold to a hiding spot on a rooftop nearby, taking the box with me to squirrel it safely away.

Don't want to leave it down here in case it's really dangerous. Not ideal with Trion running around, especially considering warning note #42 - Do not allow minors or more critically, MAG level 0 entities to come into contact with the shell. NOTE: EVEN MORE CRITICALLY, DO NOT ALLOW CONTACT with the crystal's contents.

Understandable and noted.

Slipfolding back to the bunker, the archon was still coughing so I grabbed a regular bottle of water and greeted her.

"Hey how are you feeling? Here, some water." I passed her the bottle.

She was still coughing as she took the bottle, giving me a confused and suspicious side look, but she managed to stop spluttering and drained the whole 500ml in a few gulps, then finally letting out a grunty sigh and flopping back down.

"Thanks, ugh. I feel like death." Her English was really good, with only a slight accent noticeable, since I was a native speaker.

Remaining prone, she turned her head lazily towards me and let out a puff of air.

"Why are we not dead?" She asked. “Or is this some kind of lame reception to hell?”

"Uhhh-ha. I mean, that's a very good question..I ask myself that alot..but I guess the answer is, we got lucky." I shrugged.

"But I saw you, unconscious. We were buried under all those creatures..oh god's. My people didn't come out, did they!?" Her eyes widened in panic, but I quickly reassured her.

"No, no. Don't worry. I mean, it was actually one of my abilities. But like I said, I got lucky. I was able to upgrade whilst unconscious and the..skill, well let's just say, if the monsters didn't know what fear felt like before, they certainly do now." I pursed my lips and thought back to the giggling hulk of Majik and alien metal that was, Seren. In her daemon battle form.

You have been scanned. Caution.

Wow.

"Ahem. Okay. I'll take that scan, considering your situation and since I failed to introduce myself. So, with that said, my name's Godu. Good to meet you..." I gave a pursed smile and a nod.

"Sorry. It is rude, I know. But I had to check your level. It sounds conceited but, since this all started, I haven't seen a single person that could come close to me in combat. And certainly no one that could have achieved what you did..I was curious and slightly worried you were higher than me..but you? are not..." She paused and her stomach growled loudly.

"Oh my goodness, haha, please excuse me. My name is Vyolyn. And I don't suppose I could rudely ask for something you have spare to eat and something more to drink could I?" She smiled, slightly embarrassed.

I chuckled and nodded.

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"Absolutely no problem. I'm pretty starving myself. Let me grab something and we can share stories…"

She was delighted at the sight of the MREs and when I passed her a packet, she burst out laughing and held up her new hand, thanking me profusely and promising she’d rustle up some healing salves to pay me back after I mentioned that we were fresh out of healing tonics. I told her a cutdown version of my story, not really worried about giving away too much or apabilities, since she'd already seen most of my skills, but still, I kept vague and skipped details of how I fought so that I didn't hand over too much.

Once I was done, she told me about how she was here on her honeymoon with her husband, they both were 'history nerds' and also heavily into VR fantasy combat simulators so when all this happened, they somewhat had a bit of an advantage.

The castle had been turned into a shelter by the local authorities and ‘by a pure stroke of luck or misfortune in hindsight’, a local military convoy had been travelling back to their base and happened upon the castle on their way back.

The people in charge lasted for a few days until things became clear that this was not a temporary apocalypse and things started to break down, with people making a decision to leave to go find their families.

None of them ever came back.

The few ranked combat trained defenders that remained started splintering the whole castle into factions as power struggles started to surface. This lack of cohesion started to dwindle their numbers over just a few days, until eventually the last person of ‘authority’ ended up killing himself during a heavy attack where it looked like the castle was going to be overrun.

But that night she and her husband along with the remaining survivors refused to give up and they tried to rally everyone..

..a task was received. ‘Do or die.’

Those that could, took up whatever arms they could find, and, fought something fierce.

They emerged miraculously victorious and everyone who survived was rewarded with levels, abilities and special Majik items.

That sounds..Familiar..

The following months saw them training and defending whenever an attack took place, with groups going out to grab supplies and other survivors, yup, definitely sounds familiar.

Sounds like home.

And when I asked about how they had kept the corrupted at bay, she explained that it was the very same sanctuary tech I had been rewarded with, that one of the survivors had been given that ‘do or die’ night.

She went on to detail that it functioned as a barrier that exponentially reduced the defence and attack of aggressors based upon how low their negative karma rating was and it was clear they understood karma or KAR, far better than I did. She explained that it was more a measure of corruption saturation or like an immune system's antibodies to virus ratio, rather than some kind of measure of how altruistic you were. You could punch an old person in the face or steal candy from a baby, although that is a stupid fucking analogy since who the hell gives hard boiled sweets to a baby, and not be penalised, but if you accidentally struck down and absorbed an allies EXP, your KAR would drop, and if you absorbed enough, you would become corrupted.

If you came into contact with the corrupted sickly tar EXP, even just a minor amount, then it was a death sentence.

Most monsters would be somewhat negative since they had a higher chance of killing each other, but the corrupted essentially were at zero kelvin, hence why they became nothing but sacks of spuds once they passed the barrier. But the main bulk of monsters only served to drain the barrier rapidly, weakening them only by a small fraction.

It all sounded too good to be true, but there was a cost. The barrier consumed Majik as fuel but if enough negative karma entities passed through, it could shut it down very quickly. And this Majik needed to be replenished through donations. This was why they repelled the monsters but allowed the corrupted to come through.

"Man, when I saw the corrupted getting dropped I was in shock. I've killed three myself and considering how strong they are, I thought that would be unheard of-” I took a sip of water and shook my head. "but they provide so much friggin EXP, no wonder you are at such a high MAGN level if you can weaken them that much.”

"What." Her eyes narrowed and her voice sharpened.

The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, danger?

"Huh? What's the matter?" I replied, confused and admittedly a bit scared.

"We don't go near the black EXP. You've claimed their EXP? And killed them without sanctuary Majik? Don't lie to me. That's not possible. You would be one of them right now. And I've seen them walk through solid concrete walls without even a single paper cut. How could you have pierced their defences?" She sounded angry.

"Wha-Why would I lie? No loo-" I started to say but she interrupted me with a raised voice.

"THAT is what I just asked. Explain how you could achieve such things!" She was giving me a murderous stare and I saw a faint glow of gold shimmer collecting around her hand.

"Hey, hey! Woah! I'm sorry if I offended you, but I'm telling the truth. It's an ability I have. Jeez what the hell!" She was pissing me off so I returned her angry glare.

There were a few tense moments where we just stared angrily at each other until her face softened and she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Forgive me. Sorry. Blast it..I was reminded of a horrible situation where I was too trusting and others paid dearly for it..I’m truly sorry. My mind is not quite the same after all this..violence..Okay I believe you. But, how did you defeat them? I saw you fight and you're very effective and all but.." She shrugged a single shoulder.

"Alright, yes, I can see how it sounds impossible. So I got lucky, you see, with the first one.."

I explained my encounters and how if it wasn't for their dulled sapience and the exotic horrifically deadly nature of my Slipfold ability , I'd be dead many times over by now.

"Oh my. It sounds extremely risky..but it is a shame we cannot learn these skills as it would prove invaluable to our future survival." She let out a big sigh. "But such is life.. Ahem. So, I think we should head back to the castle to ease my husband's grieving. May I ask if that's okay?"

Well I could share one but I’m not really so sure after your unstable display!

I felt a bit jaded about her lack of trust. After everything I did to help?! Bah!..

But, I can't blame her I guess. It IS a bit of a rough time to live in.

I rubbed my face and gave a nod and got up.

"Sure thing. I can Slipfold us back to an elevated location and then we can see if we're taking the front door or..not."

She smiled gratefully in response but said nothing so I rubbed my chin for a second, pondering if there was anything else that needed to be said or done, before coming to a close.

"Cool. Uh okay then. I'll just grab your things and mine and we'll go."

Collecting up the items, I handed her things and then waited for her to get ready as I explained how it worked.

"So there's like a safe space inside about 30 cm range from my fingertips, when I stretch them out, but as I mentioned earlier, it is extremely not safe if you’re not fully in that space. So the safest bet is either a piggyback, a princess carry or, over a shoulder fireman's carry. Which would you like?" There was also the cuddling method, but that wasn’t going to happen.

"That is..rather unnerving after what you said it can do to the corrupt, but hmm. I think.." She paused for a moment before making her choice. "Piggyback, please."

Fair enough.

Once she was on my back, I wasted no more time and pulled at the rooftop anchor and, with a rush of air, we thudded down onto the cement.

"WOW! That is astounding! Of all the things I've seen these past months.." She was shaking like a leaf as she got down and moved over to the edge, looking towards the Castle.

She sighed, relieved.

"Gods..they're okay. The gates are standing, the sanctuary is still online and I can see the guards are all manning their positions. Good..." She trailed off and there was a moment of silence.

Which dragged on a bit weirdly.

Okay so…

"Do you want to stay with us?-" She spun around to me and gave me a hopeful smile through her, in my opinion, still pointless head protection. It took me by surprise.

“We have a real chance here, and with your skills and abilities, hell, we could even start taking back areas and one day cities!”

I paused, politely pretending to think it over but, seriously? I told you I have a family back home I need to get to..

"Thanks, but no thanks, sorry. I need to get back home to my family. If it's okay, however, can I bring back any willing survivors I find out there?" I gave a thin smile back.

She clicked her tongue, clearly a bit miffed, and shrugged. "Huh. Was worth a try and..very well, that would be fine."

Hmm, okay.

She huffed before continuing.

“Well, I would invite you to come in, but I can sense you are itching to be on your way, so if you could drop me off there-” she pointed at a battlement near the back “-that would be great. I hope you come visit again soon.”

There was clearly a bit of butt hurt here, but I shrugged it off and kept it polite, nodding.

“Great thanks.. And really, I’m sorry, but my wife and kid. I’ve got to get back to them. Anyways, hop on and let's get you home.” I moved next to her and prepared to Slipfold.

“Of course. I understand.” she said and sighed again, hopping onto my back.

Maybe you understand, but you sure are making it clear you don’t like it..Unbelievable..

With a quick rush of air, we landed on the battlements at the back and she hopped down and pulled her helmet off. Immediately I heard shouts of alarm and approaching tin rattled footsteps as armoured people started to rush up to our location.

“Well, I guess this is it. Thanks for everything, Godu. If you ever change your mind, the door will always be open.” She held out her hand.

I stared at her hand for a drawn out moment, a strange feeling in my gut..

What? What do you want now, gut? I’m not fucking staying, piss off! Not even YOU could get me to abandon Marri and Lone! Are you insane!?

My gut sighed and rolled its eyes before sending explicit instructions to my brain as to what it was really hinting at.

Oh, I see. Tut, fine. Fuck it. If you really think it’s a good idea, even after all her aggressive mistrust...

I took her hand and looked her dead in the eyes with a nod.

“I’m sure this won’t be the last time. Here. It’s a, um, symbol of trust? Damn that sounds cheesy..” I frowned with a half smile.

Her jaw dropped.

Shared I NEC and I VoMP successfully.

“So it WAS true! And this can be SHARED? my goodness! I am lost for words.. We can use their strength against them. We can actually beat them!” Tears trickled down her face as she stared off in the distance and touched something in the air.

“Incredible. Absolutely amazing. Thank you so much. You are a true saint, I feel plain horrible after treating you with such mistrust. I wish there was something I could give-..” She paused, looked me up and down, before staring into space, eyes slightly flickering around, appearing to be having an internal debate about something, before broadly smirking and looking back at me.

“Ha! Well now, there is something I can give you in return. But you’ll need to come back in a week's time. But hell! Let’s connect and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” She clasped my shoulder and I accepted the request. “Wonderful! Now, off you go, I have a castle to run and a husband to comfort..best if you head off until I can convince them all that you are not a threat. Considering they probably watched you pulverise a few hundred monsters and then disappear with me.” She winked.

Ah, yes well! Any rational person would just take it at face value, but in these times I guess people will assume the worst first.

She walked off towards a big metal door that, on cue, burst open, in the lead was a big burly bearded man wearing a jumpsuit running in front of a large group of people wearing similar armour.

He was a mess as he stumbled forward and was heavily weeping as he fell into the open arms of the archon, who embraced him.

“VYOLYNN!” He bawled.

Found the husband, heh.

They were all celebrating and cheering until someone pointed in my direction, alerting the others, so, before they could get a good look at me, I chuckled and Slipfolded back to the road, looking forward to the day I’d run into the arms of my Marri like that..

…

..

.