After recovering from their last battle for an hour, a reasonable time to recover from their exhaustion, Mikella and the others trudged on.
Compared to the constant pain, thanks to Pain Resistance, it only became a minor ache, which she was used to during her training.
Zeke was off in his own world as usual when talking about the regeneration. He theorized that there could be some hidden numbers behind it all, including their overall health and mana.
The knowledge was helpful to Mikella when it came to their statuses. Still, shouldn’t he use that big brain of his to figure out a way out of here?
She shook off those thoughts. He may not be putting a lot of effort into getting out of here, but he’s doing his best to help them survive. If anything, what he’s doing is just helping them out way more than just pointlessly wandering about.
But to be sure, she’s keeping pace with the layout of the hallway, something that they should’ve done a while ago. But no matter how much she tried, the castle just seemed to go on endlessly. It’s as if they need to meet some sort of requirement to pass through, like in a video game.
And that fact alone is keeping her nerves frayed at the seams. Before long, she turned to find Clara clearly nodding off as they walked.
It’s been almost an entire day since they woke up, and they’ve done nothing but walk and fight, constantly afraid. She checked back at her smartphone, the one thing she still got from their old place, only to find it completely unable to turn on. She scowled before Zeke suddenly spoke up.
“Should we find a place to rest?” Zeke offered, surprising Mikella more than it should have.
Sleeping in this deathtrap of a castle wasn’t ideal by any means, but what other choice is there? They clearly can’t force Clara to keep going, and she needs to sleep. Otherwise, it won’t be good for her.
Even worse, if she does sleep, who’s gonna carry her? She’s doing just fine walking along, keeping pace as much as she could, but if she sleeps, someone has to carry her. She could just leave it to Zeke, if she was honest with herself…
But even after everything they’ve been through, Zeke was still a stranger. He wasn’t some predator, but her familial instincts kept begging her to be on guard.
“You’re probably right,” Mikella let out a deep breath.
“We found an empty room a while back. Why don’t we sleep over there? I’ll keep watch.”
Mikella nodded, only to realize that her own exhaustion was taking hold. Zeke seemed fine, but then again, he’s been doing nothing but barriers, except for the time when she got injured. She’s been constantly fighting, and now her body is reaching its apex in exhaustion.
Not even the drops from the earlier monsters were worth anything. The first two they fought only dropped another pair of gauntlets and this time a helmet. However, wearing a helmet in this place felt risky, since it completely covered the head and only left a visor with holes way too small for the eyes.
The last one, the one that shivved Mikella, dropped only shoulder pads. Fucking shoulder pads. She wanted to kick whoever was in charge of the drops.
That was probably why on top of her exhaustion, she was getting antsy and peeved at every little thing.
Mikella dragged the sleepy Clara, walking back towards the empty room they found. It was the last one they found, as most of the rooms they entered were just the same–utterly empty with nothing of worth inside. Of course, that beat the idea of suddenly entering into a room full of knights. Facing just two of them at the same time was bad enough, but encountering an entire room of them? No thanks.
The inside of the room was surprisingly decent. The walls weren’t old and dusty, just a simple light blue color. There was no furniture for them to sit and rest, unfortunately, as mostly shelves filled with strange ornaments and wooden figurines of some woodland creatures adorned the room.
Thankfully, they swiped some decent furniture just for this occasion. Pulling out her trusty pack, she put out a chair and took apart the pads from it. Then after taking out another soft velvety pad, she made a makeshift bed for Clara. Zeke watched with interest, not wanting to get in the way of making things comfortable for Clara.
Mikella had Clara rest near the wall at the corner, using the pads to make her comfortable. Clara hesitated for a moment before putting her head on it and immediately went to sleep. Her eyes closed and her breathing turned slow and steady.
Seeing her sleep so easily like this just proved how tired she was, how Mikella kept forcing the poor girl to keep going.
She brushed her black hair with her fingers, feeling at ease knowing that Clara was doing fine as she slept. It gave her solace somehow, telling her that everything was alright.
Zeke stood by as he said, showing a distant look on his face. Mikella realized that it’s the look of someone looking at their status screen.
She also realized that he’s been doing that for a while now, more often than not. Has he really been staring at his status screen all this time, rather than paying attention to his surroundings?
She shook off those thoughts again. The exhaustion was getting to her. How else can he pay attention to his mana while he uses the barrier that literally saved their lives dozens of times by now? She noticed her anxiety was turning into agitation towards the man and quickly tried to sleep to no avail.
She was just too nervous. Even if Zeke said he’s offering to keep watch, that basically meant giving him free reign while the girls sleep.
But what else can she do? She has no choice but to try and trust him as she closes her eyes. Her exhaustion finally hitting its peak, she let herself get taken by the darkness of her mind.
…..
Constant screaming and fighting no matter the hour of the day. She only just returned from her practice to find her mother and father fighting again. Her father hasn’t been home lately, due to his work, but her mother suggests it was something much more ridiculous, such as betting on the racetrack for some easy cash.
Her father didn’t take that well, suggesting that he was incompetent in taking care of his family. Mikella was tired of it by this point, no matter how many years she saw this. It was the same every time; her parents fought, showing their own incompetency, while she had to take care of most of the house duties herself.
And more importantly, to take care of her little sister, Clara. She was the only one that gave her solace, her peace within the house. Unlike her parents, Clara was quiet, composed, and quite frankly too damn mature to be their parent’s second child.
She was special, her special little sister. She was so proud of her, always getting good grades without barely trying. The fact that the other kids around her age avoid her because of her excellence only proved how incredible she was. While Mikella would agree that having friends was better, if she was honest, she preferred her sweet little sister not get closer to those drooling morons that can’t even count one to ten correctly.
She wanted nothing more than to help her grow to be a fine woman, to avoid becoming like their parents. While her father shows his colors more often than not, she realized her mother wasn’t all that great either.
She would ignore her duties as a mother, often complaining about their father and gossiping with her friends rather than do the chores and keeping care of the house. She doesn’t work either, so she was basically freeloading.
Even worse, she often kept handing her jobs to Mikella who had her own crap to deal with. She just entered into her local community college’s gymnastics’ team, forcing her to train a lot more to keep up with their hectic scheduling. That made sense to her as the team is a candidate to enter into serious competitions.
Her mother should know that, so why is she forcing Mikella to keep working her butt off to do the jobs her mother was supposed to do? In the end, both her parents were incompetent to handle anything themselves.
While her mother wasn’t exactly a shining beacon of motherhood, she was still a decent person. At least she stays and helps with Clara, more often than not, unlike her father. She swore that she never saw her father even hold Clara once even as a baby, because he was often working so long.
But then the inevitable happened. To everyone’s shock, another man came into the picture. A supposed old flame of her mother’s. But that wasn’t all. It was revealed that Clara wasn’t her father’s child, but his own instead.
That brought their entire household to a standstill, then a swirl of chaos formed. Mikella didn’t care at all about their drama, but it certainly showed quite a few things.
For one, men really are competitive somehow. Clara’s biological father wanted Clara for himself, while her own father refused. Even if the proof was there, her father wanted nothing more than to beat Clara’s father for the sacrilege of getting between their marriage.
Meanwhile, her mother did nothing but stare in horror, her mistake of her infidelity came to life. At that point, nobody was bothering to even care for Clara anymore, the real reason behind everything. They didn’t even care about the mental trauma they’re putting Clara through, who was just slowly understanding the ways of the world.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Mikella was tired of it all. Thanks to all this, she had no choice but to quit her team. Not that they appreciated her efforts anyways despite her issues at home. What mattered more is that they were planning on doing something to Clara, and whatever that was, they planned on separating the two away.
She didn’t want any of it. So running out of options, she took Clara for herself and ran away. Since she always took care of the house, she had her hands on their funds as well, so it was easy to set up a separate bank account and pretty much took everything for herself.
They should be fine. They’re adults after all, and if the men were so competitive, they can compete on how well they can work their asses off to get back the money she stole. After all, that’s what her father always does. Her mother couldn’t even focus on time before Mikella dragged Clara out and never looked back.
She was tired of it all. She was exhausted. She was angry. But having Clara by her side made everything better.
It was night by the time they got prepared to leave the city they lived in. They went onto the subway in the middle of the night, noticing some odd people here and there. Thankfully, most were women, so there was no chance of some weirdo coming up to them. She looked up on the places they could live in for the hours they spent in the subway, and eventually Mikella became tired enough to sleep herself along with Clara.
By the time she opened her eyes once again, she was in the hallway of the castle.
Nothing but blood surrounded her vision. And a child-like corpse was resting just beyond her…
…..
Mikella woke up in a frenzy, cold sweat pouring down her face and torso. She breathed raggedly, but she quickly calmed herself, realizing that it was just a nightmare. The corpse of her little sister definitely woke her up from her dream, or rather, a sequence of events that seemed so out of place in her life that it ended up sounding fantastical even in her own mind.
But it actually happened. The reveal of Clara’s father, their parents’ utter refusal to see reality for themselves, her having to run away with Clara in tow… it happened so damn quick, it didn’t seem real to her yet. And now, they were whisked away in a whole new world with video game logic.
She tried to brush Clara’s hair, wanting her solace and peace of mind, but she didn’t feel anything other than the pad she placed before. Her eyes widened, turning to find that Clara was gone.
And so was Zeke.
Her heart slammed against her chest. She didn’t know how many hours passed, but one thing was clear. She was still exhausted, but her fury was reaching her peak. She stood up and took her sword out of her pack. She didn’t even realize her fingers were gripping the hilt so tightly that blood was seeping from her nails digging to the base of her palm.
She searched the room. It was empty except for her, only making her anger rise while mixed with fear and dread.
What has he done to her little sister? What has that stranger with a knack for this world has done to her sweet little sister? She couldn’t think straight anymore. The idea that a man of unknown origins had taken Clara forced her to act.
She rushed out to the door and opened it, realizing that a lot of noise was going on outside. Her heart slammed against her chest as she heard screaming. She rushed forward, uncaring for what happened next.
Blood will be spilled, no matter the cost. If anyone hurts Clara, then they won’t get away alive, even if she does owe him a debt for her life many times over.
She turned a corner of the hallway where most of the noise was going on, and she immediately saw the culprit. He had an axe in hand, but everything was too dark to fully see. Somehow, the lights were dimmed, as though to reflect their exhaustion. It was too dark to see, making her peer at the man she knew to be Zeke.
She gripped her sword tightly, her mind only focused on one thing–to kill anything that would dare hurt Clara. She rushed in, her sword blade pointing right at his back.
She didn’t care anymore. She’ll deal with it her own way as she always had. She’ll pave her path in blood if she has to. But something caught her attention. Clara wasn’t anywhere in sight, and the being that was screaming wasn’t her little sister, but Zeke himself.
He always had a shrill to his voice, so her exhaustion made her believe that it was her little sister. But in truth, it wasn’t a scream of terror, but a scream of wrath. Zeke was blindingly hitting something with a roar, but as she got closer, she realized that the one he was trying to hit was an Arthurian Knight.
The knight was dodging with ease somehow, Zeke’s slow axe barely making any headway. Soon, the knight reacted with a powerful thrust of its own sword, a partisan sword as she recalled.
But soon a barrier seamlessly stopped the knight right before making a turn to swing, and Zeke took the chance to decapitate the knight immediately. He wasn’t just swinging, she realized, he was baiting the knight to attack so that Zeke could interrupt him with the barrier while making a true swing right at its head.
The knight’s helmet rolled by, and soon the entire suit of armor fell right afterward. Mikella only managed to stop in time to find Zeke breathing hard, his face sweating from the available fluorescent lights around them. She also noticed that he had nicks and cuts across his body and part of his suit was ruined.
Blood dripped from parts that were cut. They even started to create a small puddle on different parts of the floor. Was he fighting the knight on his own? How long was it?
But something else caught her attention. She turned to the side to find that her little sister, Clara, was fine and well. Just as she learned, she was hiding within the crevices of the hallway, where those strange statues were at. She looked on at Zeke who was wiping the sweat off his brow, hissing that he mixed his sweat and wounds together as he groaned.
“That… takes care of that,” Zeke said, breathing out harshly. “I should’ve been more careful. Damn it, that’s what I get for using up my Mana…”
He was muttering to himself. He didn’t seem to notice the two girls watching him. Mikella quickly realized why he was so bloody despite having such convenient barrier magic. He ran out of Mana trying to practice while he was keeping watch.
Then a knight rolled in and he fought it himself, his Mana too low to start with. If that was the case, then why didn’t he wake her up?
And why the hell is Clara with him?
Before Mikella was starting to go into overdrive about this situation, Clara actually walked up to him, her feet stepping with hesitation.
“...Zeke?” She called out, immediately making the man flinch and tried to look around, only to widen his eyes to find her staring at him.
“Clara?!” Zeke nearly shouted, but he quickly put his hand over his mouth. He seemed to think that doing so might call the other knights. He looked back at her, showing her a mixed look of confusion and worry. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Mikella in your room?”
Mikella immediately froze. She waited for Clara to continue, looking away from Zeke’s gaze.
“I… I saw you leaving. I don’t…want you to leave.” Clara spoke softly, noticing that her action caused Zeke to get angry. But instead, Zeke softened his face as he knelt down to her level, gazing at her straight in the eyes.
“I’m not going to leave,” Zeke said gently. “There’s no way I would.”
“Then…” Clara saw the knight’s suit of armor still resting there. Zeke shook his head.
“I thought we were in danger, so I took care of it,” Zeke said, sounding rather proud of his accomplishments. Then, as though realizing how childish that sounded, reddened before facing Clara again. “Anyways, it’s dangerous for you to be here. I promise that I will never leave you two, so please promise me that you’ll never leave Mikella’s side no matter what happens, okay?”
“...Okay,” Clara nodded. Zeke looked rather guilty somehow, then responded again.
“If anything were to happen to you, your sister would be very sad. I’ll be sad too. So please don’t think I’m angry at you..”
“...You're not?” Clara asked, hope brimming in her eyes.
“Of course not. You were worried for me, and I should have told you two before I left. Now, come on, let’s go to sleep. Who knows what your sister might do to me if she finds out you and I were here.”
“Why would she do anything to you?” Clara asked, tilting her head curiously.
“Uuh…” Zeke tried to explain, but all he got were ‘uuhs’ and ‘umms’. “She worries about you a lot. And I’m still a stranger. That’s only natural.”
“But you’re so nice,” Clara said. Zeke smiled sincerely at that.
“Maybe, but we still shouldn’t make your sister worry. She loves you so much, Clara. It won’t matter if I’m a stranger or not, she’ll still worry for you. So come along now.”
Zeke tried to stand up, but realized that Clara lifted her hand to him. Zeke hesitated, pressing his lips as though thinking such a thing might be illegal. In the end, he shrugged it off and took Clara’s hand to hold as he accompanied Clara back to her room.
All the while, Mikella hid herself and ran back to her room, somehow thinking that she might get in trouble if she was found.
All the while, all of her earlier hostile thoughts now burned at the back of her mind. Her cheeks reddened as now the anger turned into pure embarrassment.
Pave her path in blood? What the hell was she thinking? Shame crept up her insides, coiling around way more than even getting gutted with a knife. Her heart raced thinking that she sounded like some vigilante, when in truth she was about to murder a nice guy through some half-exhausted misunderstanding.
When she returned to their empty room, she quickly sat down and closed her eyes, doing her best to mimic what she looked like before.
However, her breath was still rampant, and her heart was beating too much after everything that occured. Then she recalled one of the skills she learned by force.
She completely forgot about Meditation, so she instinctively tried activating it. As though clicking on a box, she… slowed.
Her mind slowed, and her body immediately cooled down. Her heartbeat started pacing normally, and her breathing calmed. It was so strange, but there were still hints of her panicked run.
So she focused harder than before. While her mind was slowed, her intentions were clear–at least to act like she never left the room.
Eventually the door opened, leaving Zeke to whisper softly to Clara to not wake her up, not even realizing that Mikella was still wide awake. Clara slowly tipped over to her side and rested her on the pad near Mikella.
Mikella peeked, one eye open in the cover of the darkness thanks to the lights shifting about somehow. Zeke immediately sat in a corner farther away, his eyes turning distant once again to check his status.
Shame, embarrassment, and overall ridicule swept through Mikella’s mind, and it only increased twice fold when she received the following notification on top of a surge of foreign energy entering into her.
> You have gained +1 DEX from your actions.
>
> You have gained +1 END from your actions.
> Level up! You are now Level 4. You gain 2 free points (2 FP total).
> Meditation Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
> Name: Mikella Ashton
> Race: Human
> Novice: Level 4
> STR: 10
> DEX: 15
> INT: 6
> SPI: 5
> VIT: 8
> END: 11
> Free Points: 2
>
> General Skills:
> Sword Mastery (C), Level 1
> Pain Resistance (U), Level 1
> Meditation (C), Level 2
If it wasn’t bad enough, irony kicked her in the gut and spit at her downed body. She leveled up while she did nothing but sleep and planned on backstabbing Zeke.
Worse yet, her Meditation increased and gave her a single Intelligence point. Was that supposed to mean something?
It wasn’t surprising when Mikella found herself unable to sleep afterwards. She felt that she didn’t deserve to rest peacefully after tonight.