36 – Emotional tension

The party stared at the two identical holes in the wall. They all led to a dark tunnel, devoid of ice, that went up an almost identical slope. There were few differences in the rock, but none that would indicate that one path led them to the center of the mountain.

“Which one?” Ishrin asked.

“They look identical.” Lisette said.

“Wait.” Melina said. “I got this.”

She kneeled on the ground and brought her hands to her lips. Closing her eyes, she blew into her open palm and the air of the cave resonated, wind blowing where previously there was none. Ishrin saw green streaks of magic propagate from Melina’s lips and fly away in the distance, two of them going in the right tunnel, two of them going in the left one. Before long they returned, looping around a few times like a bird perching on the foxgirl’s shoulder, and settled on her hands. She consulted the wind and opened her eyes.

“That was not a regular spell,” Ishrin observed.

Melina smirked at him, but offered no explanation. “We go in the right one.”

The choice turned out to be correct. Before long the tunnel changed and shifted, becoming an actual corridor with walls and ceiling lights. The neon lights flickered and hummed, as if reacting to the presence of intruders. On the walls cameras seemed to follow the movements of the adventurers, sometimes blinking with their red LEDs above their large black glass eyes. Of the three, only Ishrin knew what cameras were and what they did but chose to keep the knowledge for himself. Even then, the girls couldn’t help but be unsettled by the strange devices that watched over them. At last, a door barred their way forward.

“We are getting close.” Ishrin said. “There is something ahead.”

“I feel it too.” Lisette said.

“The room beyond the door is a dead end,” Melina nodded. “The wind told me. This better be it.” She turned to look at the door. “How do we open this?”

“Here.”

They could call Mekano for help again, but they didn’t need to. Ishrin had familiarized himself with the workings of the mountain enough by now that he could come up with a spell on the spot. With such a magical saturation in the air, it was easier than usual.

“Master Unlock,” he whispered, and a Tier 4 core crumbled to dust in his hands. He suppressed a wince, backlash from overusing his power two full tiers above what he could handle, as the spell took effect on the door. Its magic spread over the metal surfaces, penetrating into its mechanisms and overtaking them, momentarily hijacking the delicate digital code to no longer respond to its original programming.

Then a click.

“Wait.” Ishrin said. Melina’s fingers were already on the door’s handle. She felt the slight resistance of a heavy door.

“What?” She asked.

“Am I the only one who feels like it’s been too easy so far?”

“I think so too,” Lisette said. “In fact, I am quite worried.”

“Why?” Melina said. “I don’t get it. I feel like the last couple of fight were quite hard.”

Ishrin hummed. “They were hard, yes, but not impossibly so. Right?”

“What are you getting at?” She asked.

“I’m getting at the fact that the last time someone tried to fight this place, it was not a mundane force that did it.”

“You think it was the god you oh-so-deftly always refuse to talk about?” She spat.

Ishrin regarded the venom in her eyes, narrowing his own in response. “No need to be so jumpy.”

“Then come clean.” She said, then threw her hands up and seemed to deflate. “I can’t help you if you don’t let me, Ishrin.”

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Ishrin looked at her in a new light. “Is that why you are behaving like this?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Even though I am more powerful than you are right now, you see me as so far beneath you that my help is irrelevant.”

His gaze softened, and he took a step towards her. “Hey,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to actively help me to show me that you care, you know? Just being here for me—it means a lot. I see you, you understand?”

“I… I think I do?” Her voice was small.

“Good. I don’t talk about godly stuff because, honestly, it was pretty traumatic and I don’t think anything good will come out of talking circles around the topic. An omnipotent god—don’t interrupt me,” he said with a warning smile, “whether he actually is omnipotent or not is not important. By all means, we can’t touch him, and we won’t be able to for a long time. He plucked me from my universe after a big fuck-up, and as a punishment threw me in the thick of it here on your planet. Honestly? Could have gone much worse, Melina. I met you, and Lisette, and you’re great people. Are there assholes? Yes.”

It was at that moment that Liù chose to chirrup from the pocket she was snoozing in.

“Not you, little one. You’re one of the great people.” He shrugged. “What do I care about the others? There’s assholes and problems and drama everywhere. You know that, you’re not naïve. Be rational.”

Melina nodded. “Sorry. I don’t know what has gotten over me.”

Another hand landed on her shoulder. Her other shoulder. She looked at it, clad in black leather, and almost gasped. “I do know what it is that got over you. You think you have a duty to help, to protect. I have seen it.”

Melina sniffled. “You… did?”

“I do see things. Emotions are hard, but,” she inhaled loudly, “I feel like I am getting to know them, a little. You show to others that you care about them by helping and taking care of them. Even more so with those closest to you. You did it with me, and now you want to do the same with Ishrin. However, Ishrin is not so easily helped.”

“No, he’s not.” She said with a chuckle.

“And that is okay,” Lisette finished.

Melina smiled sadly, but there was a twinkle in her eyes like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. “You never stop learning.”

“That’s very true,” Ishrin added, “sometimes it is the most improbable teacher who teaches you profound things about yourself, if you listen to them.”

“Thank you guys,” she said. “I’ll be better.”

There seemed to be a lull in the conversation, and Melina’s eyes turned to the door. But just as she was about to propose they keep going, Ishrin resumed talking. He cleared his voice, gathered his thoughts, then spoke slowly and barely loud enough for them to hear.

“I know you like me, Melina.” He said. Lisette gasped. “I am not the blind, naïve guy I was so long ago. I have eyes. And I like you too.”

Another gasp. In unison, both he and Melina looked at Lisette who was covering her mouth with her gloved hands. She was beet red in the face. “Sorry,” she muttered, and urged them on.

“What I want to say…” Ishrin said, and his heart ached at the next words, “I don’t want to move things along prematurely. I don’t know if you like me for who I am, or because of what I represent to you. Because of my power, of my presence.”

“What difference does it—”

“It makes all the difference. At least, until you know the real reason why you like me. Be honest with yourself: do you know, right now, as you are? Do know if you like me, or if you like the mysterious powerful mage who can take you to heights you had never even dreamed of?”

Hearing that, her heart seemed to skip a beat.

“I know that look. But hear this: I will take you to those very same heights regardless of whether we are friends or lovers. I will take Lisette with us, even though it seems quite clear my relationship with her is nothing more than a budding friendship.”

He glanced at the woman in question, who was still blushing in full fangirl mode.

“Take some time to feel your feelings. I am not going anywhere, and there’s no need to rush things along. If it’s meant to happen, it will happen.”

“You believe in Fate?” Melina asked timidly. There was hope and fear in her voice.

“Fate is a powerful, yet volatile, force. It’s particularly powerful at controlling low Tiered people, like us. But everyone, save for perhaps Albert himself, is ultimately influenced by Fate.” Then he chuckled, noticing how the god’s name had slipped his lips. Melina seemed to have noticed, but said nothing. “I didn’t even mean to talk about Fate. What I meant was: if there’s real attraction between us, then the seed of friendship will bloom into the flower of love as we get to know each other. For now, there’s work to do.”

The girls nodded. “What do you think we’ll find beyond this door?” Melina asked.

“I don’t know. But it looks important, and it probably will be the best defended place of the whole mountain. Which means that we need counter measures. Do any of you have spells or items we could use to avoid detection? ‘cause otherwise I might have to do a reality bending ritual, and I will be unable to fight.”

Lisette perked up. “I think I can help. I do have a spell that was taught to me by my teachers. It is used in preparations for assassinations.”

Ishrin wondered why she said the word teachers like she was swallowing vinegar, but did not inquire. Instead, he let her cast.

“The spell will last exactly 30 minutes, starting now.”

As the magic settled, Ishrin confirmed that the cameras—even though they were technological—could no longer track them. The members of the team could still see each other, but a thin film of magic coated them and rendered them invisible to anyone not involved with the spell, even to magical senses.

Melina nodded, having pulled herself together and taking control. “Alright. In and out in the least amount of time possible. We go in, figure out what the mission objective is, and then we leave with the ‘lost spawn’ before the time runs out. The mountain is not going to be happy with us stealing its stuff, so I want to be out by the time it can see us again.”