I felt warm water hit me. I woke up in my sister’s arms. She was cradling me under the shower in the space station’s main room.

It took me some time to emerge from the soft all-encapsulating darkness.

“L…are you okay?” I asked when I had finally got a better hold of myself.

She scoffed at me. “Am I okay. No, shithead, I’m not okay.”

I tried to get up, panicking, but pushed me down.

“Oh, I drank some liquid, got out the last tooth. I’m peachy. I would be fine really, if only my brother didn’t try to self-detonate in mad self-hatred because he wants to protect me at all costs. Or sister, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

I winced. “I…I killed Gorgnar.” I remembered. Water splashed in my face, and I grimaced in annoyance.

My sister laughed bitterly. “Yeah, you did. Seems like his plan worked though, because we survived.”

“…I…What about Rik? How long have I been out?”

“…One hour, something like that.”

“We can’t…”

“Are you going to suggest we go back and help him, really?”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “Well, at least my brother is back. You’re a kind idiot.”

“I’m a monster.”

She squeezed my arm with all her strength.

“Ow!”

“Never say that. You did what you had to. There were no good solutions, and even if there were, we didn’t have the time to find them.”

“Sis…if only it was just me being pragmatic. But I was so angry I…the system gave me a [Berserker] class afterward.”

“[Berserker]? No, that’s not important right now. Nielle. You got angry for me. Sure, you lost control. Sure, you could have found another way. But you acted to save me, and the fact that you’re feeling horrible right now is proof that you’re not a monster. You understand?”

“…I…” I remembered my hand, a scary version of what I would expect old-fashioned vampires to have. As I looked at them, I only saw my ‘normal’ feminine human hands. I could still feel the little clench of Lila’s in my left.

She hadn’t left me. She still loved me.

I looked up at my sister. She was holding me tight; she forgave me too.

Maybe I would be able to, then.

“Ok. But what about…” I began.

“Rik. I know. I wasn’t really going to let him die either, but you were more important. Let’s get some first aid kit and make him able to get back to the village on his own. Then we’ll fuck off this world and try another, much nicer one. Take some holidays, yeah?”

I didn’t know what to say. There was something that bothered me.

Were we fleeing?

“So.” I changed the subject. “Why am I taking a naked shower with you?”

She gave me a smirk. “We’re not naked, we’re still in our underwear.”

“Ok, why am I taking a shower in my underwear with you?”

“I thought it’ll help. And it felt a bit weird to strip you off completely. You may look like a cute girl, with all the right curves, but honestly, being my ex-brother is kind of a turn-off.”

“I’m not your ex-brother.”

“Of course, that’s what you focus on... Ex-brother now sister.”

“Fuck you, you’re just another kind of cunt on two legs.” I taunted back.

My sister smiled. “Love you too, shithead.”

I smiled back at her and felt a bit better.

We changed our underwear and put on some normal clothes that Bonnie had prepared for us.

That had to be the first real intelligent thing I had witnessed her do. She had taken extra steps to fill out Benedict’s old wardrobe with new clothes for us. When asking her where the old science garbs had gone, she had answered with a simple: “Incinerator.”

Or maybe this was a setting in her programming forcing her to provide clothes for her “masters”.

That felt a bit weird, but Bonnie always acted like a computer, and didn’t really feel like an artificial intelligence.

Now in a red t-shirt and blue jeans, and my sister in a blue shirt and dark jeans, also holding a first aid kit, we were ready to go back to the system world. This time, we didn’t make the mistake to go in blind, and waited for Bonnie to tell us that the coast was clear. The little drone was cute, looking like a Roomba that could fly. It even made beep-boops, that apparently served as an echolocation radar, but in my opinion, it had been designed to make it cuter.

When we appeared back in the cave, nothing much had changed. The dead body of the [Tooth-Bear] was still where I had left it, Grognar’s half-eaten body was…

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

“Holy f…” The system prompt would kill me, more effectively than any kind of bad Hollywood jump-scare.

“No.” I responded immediately.

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“No!” I almost shouted.

“Nielle?”

“Sorry, the system is just showing me the [Berserker]…”

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

“I fucking said no!”

“Why would you say no? It sounds like a super strong class!” Asked my sister with surprise.

“A class to lose control and kill random people, no thanks.”

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

“No! God dammit!”

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

“Just say yes, it’s not like it will have any effect in other worlds… Wait, where is Rik?” She suddenly exclaimed. We had been walking towards the boulder the whole time I was fighting the system prompt, and, despite the green square in front of my face, I could see beyond it to find…no one behind the large rock.

“Shit. Bonnie, where is he?”

“…Please specify subject ‘he’.”

“…Rik, the man that was here.”

“[Wood Elf] Rik was last seen five minutes and three seconds ago by drone 1 in the close vicinity of the [Ground Drake]’s lair, attempting to leave through the tunnel leading outside.” The sound of Bonnie echoing in my neck was giving me a headache.

“What did she say?” My sister asked.

“He’s trying to leave, he was in the tunnel five minutes ago.”

“Oh. Oh yeah I see the… there is a blood trail.”

“I hope he’s not dead…” Concern took over the anger I was feeling against the system.

“We barely know him, Nielle. But yeah, it would suck.” My sister tried to relativize.

We walked in a hurry towards the tunnel, and true to Bonnie’s word, we quickly found Rik, hopping weakly with one leg, inch by inch.

He almost fell when hearing us arrive and sharply turned one-eighty degrees. It was quite the feat with only one working leg.

“What!? You? Where did you come from? How did you get back in the lair?! Why?” He looked exhausted, in pain, and furious.

“Speech on!” I told the system. Despite still showing me the Berserker prompt, it did activate my skill with no issues. “Calm down.” I lowered myself, my hands low. “We came back to help, we…we missed each other, we came back when we didn’t find you inside.”

He looked confused. “What? No, I would have… Help?”

“We’ve got a first aid kit. We can clean and close up your wound.” My sister showed him the first aid kit. She had the translation on, but I hadn’t heard her say it. I would need to ask how she had done that. I stayed concentrated on the [Wood Elf]. He looked even more puzzled after my sister’s words, so she dropped the kit back down. “It has medical equipment inside.” She explained.

“Where did you…? No, I don’t trust you.” He shook his head.

I tried to come closer non-threateningly, but this time, he fell on his butt as he tried to take the bow on his back. There were a lot of arrows in his quiver. Did he take out some from the [Tooth-Bear]? Looking at his wound and how he seemed to have picked himself up together in an hour, I felt a bit admirative seeing his will to live.

“Please…I really just want to help. I…am sorry about Grognar.”

Rik caught his breath, looking at me with sharp focus.

“I believe you.” He finally told me.

I sighed in relief.

“That doesn’t mean I forgive you. Your sister can help me, but you, get away from me.” That made me pull back and grimace. I understood. “Is that thing going to heal me like you?” He asked Gaëlle.

“Erm…yeah there is a syringe filled with... It’ll only work temporarily, but it should bring you back on top of your game in a few minutes.” She cut her explanation short.

Elle edged closer, and Rik seemed to let her. His eyes stayed riveted on me.

I kept looking at him as well, fearing he would try to attack us or take revenge on me by hurting my sister.

He did none of that. He watched as L followed Bonnie’s instructions and washed his wound before injecting a small dosage of healing bacteria next to the hole in his thigh.

It did stop the bleeding, but the regenerative components were way slower than ours.

“Thank you.” Rik said.

“Will you be able to get back to the village?” I asked.

He eyed me suspiciously.

“Yes. This potion is great, never saw one in this syringe form. So you had a camp nearby, didn’t you?”

“…yes.”

“What else did you lie about?”

I looked away, but my sister answered him with a sharp edge in her voice. “We were in no way responsible for what happened, or for the decisions of your leader. Now, my sister was angry and told you things that she should not have. You were out of the fight, there was nothing more than you could have done. Neither could we have done anything else.”

Rik stared at her for a short moment before responding in a more posed manner. “I know the real cost of survival. All those that have survived in my clan know that price. But that doesn’t wipe away your actions, strangers. There are no debts between us, but shall you be under the grip of Blue water again, do not expect any help from me. I would recommend you don’t come to our village again either, you shall not be welcome there.”

I felt tears rise to my eyes as I lowered my head.

“No one wants to go back to your shitty village.” My sister barked back.

“…My wound feels better.” Rik suddenly exclaimed. “May you let me take back some of the treasure to this ‘shitty village’ or will you also be renouncing your word?”

“The fucking nerve…” Elle began.

“Yes. Take what you want.” I nodded solemnly.

“Nielle!”

“What? Do we need something?”

“…If there is a Class Book, I want it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“As if there would be a Class Book in the hoard of a [Ground Drake], you’d need to steal from the [Dark Crow]’s nest to find such a bounty.” The condescending tone of Rik was so thick you could taste it in the air.

We followed Rik back in the lair, with a good enough distance. His bow was still a danger to us, but me and my sister sat down on the door. If he suddenly acted aggressively, I just needed to touch the rope handle and we would be out of harm.

Rik picked up some daggers that were still in their sheath, a few pieces of what looked like golden ore, and even a large ruby. It wasn’t anything like in the movies though, neither shining nor perfectly cut. Just a pile of reddish crystal fixed on an alkaline rock.

I saw that he was also carrying Grognar’s bracelet over his wrist, the one that the [Tooth-Bear] had been choking on.

His bag full, he stared at us.

“What are you doing then? Taking all of this for yourself?”

Honestly, now that we could look at it all in more detail, it was a pile of junk. What was the point in getting ores if we had a space station that could 3D print it?

The only thing worthy of interest were the weapons. Some swords still seemed in good condition, and Rik had unknowingly gathered them for us when he had decided which ones he would have been able to carry or the ones that would have been too heavy. There were no books of any kind in the fallen pile.

“Maybe a sword or two, but the ores are for your village. As promised.” I answered him.

“And now we wait for daylight to come.” He gave me a bitter smile.

I nodded.

After a few hours of really intense staring, Rik finally broke the status quo.

“Nobles of the Cities kill each other for what you gave me. It was an elixir, wasn’t it? Such a waste to use it for a leg wound.”

I recalled what he had been doing before, when we had walked through the forest; fishing for our stats, now fishing for the provenance of our ‘elixir’.

“No, it’s not.”

“What is it then?”

I didn’t answer.

He smirked, and our silent staring contest began anew.

My sister was softly snoring on my shoulder.

How she could sleep in the circumstances was beyond me, but then that was pretty typical for her. I remember how she fell asleep during one of my ex’s rants.

Gaëlle told me later that it had taken so long she had simply phased out the noise.

I smiled at the memory.

A small sliver of light started to come from the tunnel.

“That’s my cue.” Rik got back on his feet. “I wish for us never to meet again.”

“…Rik.” I stopped him. He turned, looking at me with anger.

“Please…please tell Anna that I am truly sorry.”

A mixture of different emotions passed through his face. He settled on one that I could not read. “Fine.”

And then he left.

I sighed, woke up my sister, and prepared to come back to the station.

You have unlocked Class: [Berserker]. Would you like to take this Class? Y/N

The prompt hadn’t left me one moment. I knew it would have been better just to say yes to be able to watch Rik more carefully, but it just didn’t seem right to me.

I pulled on the rope handle, and we went back to the station.