Ione knew Osmen had planned something the moment she had walked into class. The blonde girl couldn't help giggling while she stared at Ione.

Creepy.

She checked her seat, just to make sure there was nothing on it, and after deeming it clear, she sat down, organizing her desk before Amahn started class.

Ione noticed right away that Osmen was the only one having a grand time with the secret, while the other girls, Daniah, Trikka, and Kraylin were all impassive, and refused to look in her direction.

Had their group imploded already? She wondered to herself.

However, if that was the case, Ione suspected Osmen would not be giggling and kicking her feet. They probably wouldn't even sit together anymore. So there was something happening, something Osmen planned, that maybe the other girls weren't too enthused about.

Immediately, Ione activated most of her skills and resistances, not about to be caught unawares if somehow she gets shot with an arrow through the window.

Yet, nothing happened.

On high alert, Ione kept her skills activated throughout the day. She still asked her questions about the war, which, nothing new was revealed unfortunately, and went about her school day like it was any other, but as soon as recess arrived she grew apprehensive, suspecting this would be the moment they would try to strike.

She went to grab a snack, and then made her way to the forest, like she did everyday, before [Danger Sense] and [Spatial Awareness] alerted her to someone barreling towards her from behind, causing her to jump in a direction at random. Thankfully, she went to the left, and someone tripped and landed face-first where she was standing moments before.

The boy groaned as he adjusted himself and Ione got a good look at his face as he twisted around. “Jahren? What the fuck, dude?”

“Why are you so fast?” He whimpered as he slowly clambered to his feet, wincing as he rubbed his elbow.

There was no way this boy would do what he did, if not for Osmen. Of course, the blonde-haired girl roped someone else into her scheme in an attempt to scare her.

Jahren was 11-years-old, a few short years away from choosing his own class. Known as a goofball in his class, and a not so talented swordsman.

“Hmm, didn’t Osmen tell you?”

“Tell me what?” he asked, his interest immediately peaked.

She laughed. “Nevermind. Were you trying to tackle me?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Yeaaah, sorry. Just, Osmen asked me to do it, saying it’s a game that you guys play?”

Ione raised a brow as she said, “a game, where she tackles me, out of nowhere?”

“No, where you guys tackle each other,” He corrected, with his finger pointed up, “out of nowhere.”

“Ohhh, okay, right, my bad,” she nodded her head in mock understanding. She crossed her arms, then tilted her head. “Why would you do that for her?”

“She said we could go on a date!” He enthusiastically smiled and pumped his fist.

“Nice!” She exclaimed. “Did you know that she’s watching us right now?”

Color drained from his face before he looked around, then, when he didn't spot her, leveled a look of confused apprehension, “where is she? Where did you see her?”

“I’m pulling your leg.” Ione snickered.

He was a funny kid; so smitten with Osmen that he didn't even question what she was asking him to do.

“No, you’re not.” He responded and looked down at his leg. Then he looked back at her.

She nearly laughed again before she caught herself. “It’s just a phrase I heard. She’s not actually watching, as far as I know. Anyways, what do you think about Elves?”

He scratched the back of his head, “Elves? Uhhh, I know there’s a war going on? But I don't really care about it. I wanna go back to sword fighting and see about my date.” He beamed.

“Alright, you're in!” Ione exclaimed.

“I’m in?”

“Yea! I think you’d be a good addition to my group, I could teach you some skills.”

“Skills? You?” He asked, incredulously.

Ione was slightly insulted by that tone.

“What kind of skills do you have?”

“Okay, calm down. I have a lot, but I'm not going to tell you right now, I'm extending this trust to you, because you don't seem…mean, about elves. But I can guarantee you, I know more skills than you and if you tell Osmen this, then I’ll teach you.”

“That’s all I gotta do?”

“That’s all you gotta do,” She confirmed. “In fact, tell her to join too. Just make it seem like your idea.”

Jahren stood there in thought for a moment, “how can I be sure though? That you have a lot of skills?”

“Shouldn't you be wondering how I knew you were behind me? How I dodged out of the way so quickly?”

It took him a second, but it was like a lightbulb clicked behind his eyes, he visibly brightened, and extended his hand, “You have a deal!”

“Great.” They shook hands and then each stepped back, “meet me tomorrow at the same time and I’ll teach you what I know.” She leveled a firm gaze on him, “just, don’t tell anybody else. If I hear it got back to anybody but Osmen I won't teach you a thing.”

“Okay, yeah, I got it.” He said, nearly sounding annoyed at her insinuation that he couldn't be trusted.

“Alright, see you!” Ione said, waiting for Jahren to leave.

He waved, then turned and ran off, almost comical in the way his gangly legs twirled about each other.

She followed him.

He went directly to Osmen.

Nice.

She smiled as he animatedly told her what happened. Ione couldn't hear what was being said, but the body language itself spoke volumes. Jahren was gesturing wildly while Osmen stood with her arms crossed, slumping when Jahren evidently told her something she didn't want to hear. Presumably, the failed attempt at scaring her. The three other girls hung back and listened, they didn’t provide much else besides a presence to the conversation. Jahren leaned towards Osmen’s ear and whispered something while the blond girl quite obviously leaned away from him. Ione had a pretty good feeling at what was being said. They soon parted, and Jahren seemingly left a parting comment that appeared to assuage Osmen’s feelings as she perked up. The boy, with a skip in his step, went to the group he hung around, and they started clapping him on the back when he told them something.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He was still going on the date.

Ione then walked up to the group of girls, serenely smiling when she captured their attention.

“What do you want, Herbivore,” Osmen snarled.

“Just your time, and your attention.”

At that, Ione noticed the other girls close in, still behind Osmen, but they made it very clear that they were listening.

She bristled. “Well, you don't have either.” Osmen looked down her nose. “Leave.”

“Alright then,” Ione turned around and walked away, and only stopped when she heard a shout from behind her. It was Daniah, followed by Trikka and Kraylin. Osmen hung back, out of earshot with a deep frown etched on her features.

Trikka spoke first, “What did you wanna say?”

“Aren’t you afraid that Osmen won’t like us talking?”

Kraylin responded, “since when do you care about what Osmen had to think?”

“Since the beginning of time, ooo ooo.” Ione ooed as she waved her arms as if she were a spooky ghost, but the blank faces staring back at her didn’t give an inch.

She cleared her throat. “Jeez, tough crowd. I’ve cared since the last meeting. But, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to ask if you guys wanted to learn new skills?”

“You? Skills?” Daniah probed, “what kind of skills?”

What is with that damn tone everytime I mention I have skills?

“Skills that might give you better options for a class.”

All three girls glanced at each other, “why?” asked Trikka.

“Why not?”

Kraylin raised a brow, “maybe because we were mean to you? Called you knife-ear? Herbivore? Tried to hurt you?”

“Yeah that’s true.” Ione nodded. “You guys did all of those things. But I don’t care. I see potential in you guys and I know each of you can go on to do great things.”

“But how do you know that?” Kraylin pressed.

“You don’t think I’ve been paying attention to your little group?”

“Well, give us examples of what you see in us then.” Daniah demanded.

“Kraylin, you’re a realist, Daniah, you’re strong, and Trikka, you’re brave. It’s easy to see when you watch closely.”

“What about Osmen?” asked Trikka, eyes narrowed.

“Osmen’s resourceful, and has leadership qualities,” the white-haired girl simply said.

Daniah pursed her lips, “how long have you been watching us?”

“Probably just about as long you’ve been watching me,” Ione’s smile was full of knowing.

All three girls flushed in embarrassment as Daniah murmured, “didn’t think we were that obvious.”

“To me it was, but I imagine it’s the same for you. Mind telling me what conclusions you made about me?” She was curious.

“Well, you're fast. And can dodge.” Daniah responded.

“And you don’t care about us making fun of you. Like, it doesn't matter to you.” Trikka added.

“It doesn't. I know myself, so whatever names you wanna call me just doesn't matter. No use getting upset over what people are saying when I know it’s wrong.”

Kraylin was silent up until that point. “So, what’s stopping us from using the skills you teach us, against you?”

“Wouldn’t that be a fucked up thing to do? I mean, I guess I wouldn't be able to stop you, but I think that says more about you than it will ever say about me.”

A grimace spread across Kraylin’s face as her mouth opened and closed, before it stayed shut for good.

Daniah and Trikka glanced at Kraylin before swinging their gazes back to Ione.

“Osmen won’t like it if we hang out with you.” Trikka mentioned.

Ione shrugged, “what Osmen doesn't know won't hurt her. We can meet tomorrow at recess and figure out timings.”

“She’ll find out eventually,” warned Trikka.

“Well, at that point, maybe you guys could invite her once she sees how much progress you’ve made.” She adjusted her clothing, “anyways, just give it a thought, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but the offer is open. I have to go now anyways, gotta catch up on some school work before the test next week.” Ione turned around to walk back into the orphanage, waving, then exclaimed, “good luck!” Before heading inside.

Second chance, gone.

Once she passed the threshold she dropped down and peeked at them through the window.

They huddled together for a brief moment before they went back to Osmen. While Ione was nearly impressed with Osmen’s resourcefulness, unfortunately she gave the white-haired girl the perfect opportunity to infiltrate their group. Capitalizing on Jahren’s appearance was easy, and then separating Daniah, Trikka and Kraylin from her? Child’s play. Ione knew the girls would show up tomorrow. There was no doubt; they wouldn't be able to resist the allure of learning new skills, especially since she knew they didn't want to be homemakers.

Osmen would learn that she fucked with the wrong person, but Ione was forgiving. She almost guaranteed the blonde girl would show up tomorrow, and while she didn’t know what was going to happen, the white-haired girl was certain of the drama show that was bound to play out. However, she was optimistic that everything would play out in her favor.

Ione realized how manipulative she was becoming. She had never been like this when she lived on earth, or in any of her other lives. She wondered if this was due to the system affecting her, or had adapted to using it to ensure her survival. She didn't gain a [Manipulation] skill yet, but like [Deception], it might take a few more tries for it to show up.

Manipulation itself isn't bad unless you use it to hurt others, Ione reasoned. If I use it to help others, which also just so happens to be in line with my own gain, what’s the issue?

There was the beginnings of other questions niggling at Ione’s brain:

How did the system, Mauvah know my every thought? How does he catalog my every action? How does he know when I’m deceiving someone? Was he a machine? A person? A hybrid?

Suddenly, a lance of pain so sharp speared through her skull, which caused her to stagger away from her hiding spot and bring a hand up to her temple. She grunted from the agony and she turned on all tiers of [Pain Resistance], but it didn’t work.

“Cease.”

It was like a thousand voices, all at once, rang into her ears and she fell to the ground in a daze. Her brain felt like scrambled mush, and she had trouble forming any sort of coherent thought. It wasn't long before Ione became dimly aware of being carried somewhere before she was laid down on a comfortable surface. A cool, wet cloth wiped at her ears while disordered speech vibrated her wrecked eardrums.

Soon enough, she was unconscious.

~~~~~

Ione was brought to consciousness by a hand stroking her head. Bright light filtered into the room, causing her eyes to blink due to sensitivity, and she turned to look at the person who was petting her.

It was Coranne.

“What happened?” Ione croaked, then cleared her throat. “How long was I out?”

Coranne gave her a cup of water, and as she sipped, the woman explained the events of what happened.

Ione was found lying at the inner entrance to the orphanage by a nun who was shepherding the boys in from their recess. She had blood coming out of her ears and was completely incoherent, while her eyes rolled around in their sockets. The nun rushed Ione to the infirmary where the blood was promptly cleaned and a new, younger nun, rushed to get Coranne. In total, she was out for about 3 hours.

Coranne cocked her head. “Do you know what happened?”

Ione took a breath, “I-I had just come in and-and…” She shook her head, trying to remember. “I was looking at some of the older girls from my class. I was thinking about tomorrow, and I don't remember, I…what?” She felt panic rise and she turned on Tier 6 of [Pain Resistance]. Suddenly, she was calm. “I don’t remember, but I heard so many voices. Too many voices, saying one word altogether.”

The nun’s eyes widened. “What was the word?”

“‘Cease.’” Ione said in a whisper, gaze directed towards the window.

Coranne’s eyes narrowed in thought. “And you don't remember what you were thinking about at all?”

The girl looked back at Coranne and shook her head. She decided to sit up and promptly winced.

“No, no, you should lay back down,” Coranne gently chided as she guided Ione back to a lying position at her protests. “You had blood coming out of your ears. I've never seen anything like it. Your eardrums were ruptured and…” Coranne inhaled, “I was scared. When I saw you laying there, you were so silent and you weren't moving at all. It was like you were dead. So please, for me, lay down?”

Ione looked at her, then nodded. She finished drinking the rest of her water and asked Coranne for more. The woman immediately headed to the kitchen with a few parting words, just to let her know that she’ll be back soon, and left the girl to her thoughts.

Why can’t I remember? What was I thinking about?

Ione suspected it was because she had come close to some sort of knowledge that she wasn't supposed to have. All those voices telling her to ‘cease’? That was the gods telling her to end that train of thought and pronto. Her blown out eardrums were apparently the byproduct of the warning.

At that moment she knew why she couldn’t remember.

Either one of the gods stole my fucking memories or destroyed them.