A melancholy smile cut through Noem’s grin. Mona did it. Gods alive, she’d done it. A new apex bonder had just been created, and he’d had a small part in it. Which also meant he no longer had a reason to sit idle in a cage so ill-equipped to contain him.
“I’m leaving now. Mona’ll be up once I message her.” Noem declared. He stood from Alabaster’s back and wiped his hand across the bars with a continuous activation of Heavy Blow. Not a single one survived the motion. “Take the time to tell her what she’s getting into, yeah?”
“We can’t just let you–” Hetti started, but bit her lip to stop herself. She took a deep breath, then nodded through the frustration. “Fine. If your house was broken into, she can’t go back. Can you at least tell us what she’ll need before you go?”
Noem tilted his chin upwards in acknowledgement. “She’ll need a new inventory. Other than that, you can just give her everything you’d give a new student. She’s a smart girl, so she’ll make do.”
Hetti didn’t seem convinced. “Are you sure? If those people ransack everything you have, Mona won’t have anything to take with her.”
“That ain’t a problem; she barely had anything to start off with.” Noem chuckled and stepped past Sylvie, who only raised her chin as he walked by. “Four years of being in a coma on all the life support you can think of does that to a person. Oh, don’t forget she’s got amnesia and personality amnesia. Whatever that’s called.”
“I think that falls under the umbrella of ‘amnesia’.” Sylvie said.
Noem shrugged. “I’m not a doctor. Played at one for a few years, but the tech did all the work.” He raised a hand and waved without looking back. “Maybe I’ll see you in another four years, Sylvie. You make a good chair, Alabaster. And… take good care of Mona, Hetti. She deserves a shot at a happy life.”
Even if she wasn’t really Mona Crest, Keira Baker didn’t ask for this. It wasn’t the girl’s fault she got yanked across space and time. For the shortest of seconds, Noem’s eyes grew dark as his resolve hardened and his Qi burned like a wildfire.
It was the goddess who deserved to suffer.
The dust shifted under feet planted in resolve. Hetti didn’t say a thing, but she didn’t have to. Noem knew she wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mona; she was too soft, and she cared too much. Which was absolutely perfect for a peaceful world, but when the cards were down, soft and caring could be pitted against each other like gladiators out for blood. Because caring too much always hardens people.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Noem was a first-hand example of that. And through everything… he still wasn’t sure if he’d done the right thing. But he’d done it, he’d followed through, and it was finished. He smiled somberly into the distance and kept walking. Far too long to meet up with Mona. And when he finally found a cover of multiple stone blocks stacked on top of each other, he activated Nimble and Sneak before he dropped down unseen into the smoky haze that hadn’t even begun to dissipate.
“Nice work, Mona.” He whispered into thin air with the knowledge that his system would amplify it to audible levels. “Climb up to the surface. Two people will be waiting for you there, and a third will come by in a few minutes with your bag. Don’t try to use your inventory; someone broke into our house and probably stole everything. I already took out all of your important stuff, so don’t worry about it.”
He paused before adding anything else and let the smoke wrap around him. It no longer felt like a living thing, but there was enough Qi in it to keep it billowing for years to come. “System, this one’s for you alone. Don’t send this next part to Mona until her system registers that she’s within one-hundred kilometers of the university. Give me a low beep to confirm, then a short happy one to show that I’m recording the message.”
One low beep, followed almost instantly by a short high one. Noem swallowed, then sighed. How had he managed to get so attached to the person who’d taken over his little sister’s body in such a short amount of time? And… how had she trusted him so easily? Against all the goddess’ warnings?
“You’ll probably end up hearing some stuff about me on the internet before you get this. Hopefully nobody makes the connection between us, but you might have to watch your back when you’re at the university. Ajiana can’t just tell everyone you’ve got an anchor made from a crater corundum, but she’ll make sure the wrong people know. The university’s safe as hell, though, so you’ll only have to watch out for professors and other students.”
Noem took a breath before he continued. “Sylvie will look after you. She’s one of… no, she’s my closest friend, and she’s trustworthy. You can make your own judgments with the friends you make, but make sure they’re the kind that won’t gut you if they think it’ll get them ahead. That kind’s more insidious than you’d think, so be careful.”
He stuck his hands in his pockets and lamented the freedom that so quickly sped towards him.
“Don’t come looking for me and don’t go back to the house. That’s all dead and gone now. I… damn it all… I know what you are. That you’re not Mona. But the goddess, whoever she was, told you that I was a horrible monster. You didn’t treat me like one. And even if I’m not actually your brother, I’m glad I got to be a side note in the story of your life. Good luck with everything, Keira. I know you’ll manage to save the world.”
“And… I think that’s it.” Noem sighed and stared up at the smoke. “Stop the recording.”
{Recording stopped. Final sentence is: And… I think that’s it. Does that sentence belong in the message?}
Noem shook his head. “It’ll sound all wrong if it stays. The last sentence should be ‘I know you’ll manage to save the world.”
{Acknowledged. Creating a message now, to be delivered upon the previous specifications.}
A pair of boots thumped quietly down to the dust a few meters away. Noem rested his hand on his knife and began to walk towards the pile that contained all of his things as Sylvie walked directly towards him.
She scratched the back of her head, then sighed. “What’d you do this time that’s so important you can’t share it with the other two?”
“More than you’d think.” Noem chuckled humorlessly. He tapped on his interface, and Sylvie raised her arm to check the pre-made explanation message he’d just sent her. “Read that while we walk. If you’ve still got questions after that, I’ll answer all of ‘em.”