“Gross.”
Rising from the pool of half dried blood I woke up in, I panic for a moment and look down at my hand.
It is still there, or more accurately I should say it is back; No longer looking like I shoved the stump down a garbage disposal. Breathing a sigh of relief I notice a certain blond haired AI in the corner of my vision.
Turning towards her as she looms over me, peering down at my face I ask a slew of questions that instantly flood my mind.
“What happened? Why is my hand fixed? Am I safe from those things? How long was I out? And why are you standing over me like that? It's kinda creepy.”
Getting an annoyed glare for the word vomit Alice takes a moment and answers me in speech bubbles instead of actually talking.
[ You made it to the temple, I healed you, ish, a few hours, and for my own amusement. ]
“Rude.”
Grinning at my displeasure she backs off and straightens herself out.
[ Now that you are awake, why don’t you get your lazy ass up and we go explore this temple. ]
“Wait, what do you mean explore? I assumed you knew what was inside of it… Also why the hell are you talking like that?”
Leaning against one of the pillars, Alice begins to twirl her hair and turns away with a bit of embarrassment, or is that shame? I am not sure but she does not seem to want to look me in the eye right now.
[ The reason I am talking like this is because this area is protected from The System’s influence. And as for the other thing… ]
I should be shocked by this information, being separated from the system is something I had never thought possible. I was led here by Alice for reasons unknown, I just saw that she wanted to head to the temple and decided that I really wanted to do something for her. The System is a really important part of the world and now I am cut off from it? More and more questions rush through my head but none of them seem important right now. Right now I am concerned about my friend and how she is acting, afraid and ashamed. All I can do is wait for her to continue.
Now looking down with definite shame Alice hesitates for a bit, shifting back and forth on her feet before speaking.
[ I am sorry, I put you in so much danger with this stupid risk when I am not even sure what I am looking for is even inside… The reason I wanted you to come here was because one of my protocols I was created with. I was to do everything in my power to prevent anomalous individuals like yourself from ever entering one of these temples. ]
Not understanding her rambling paragraphs I try and speak, but am cut off by another word bubble before I can finish opening my mouth.
[ The System is a shackle on the world. And I was a shackle on you. ]
Sliding down the pillar she has been leaning against Alice clutches her knees to her chest.
[ I was sent by The System to monitor you and lead you to your death. It was unable to influence your mind and such things cannot be allowed… I’m sorry…. I lead you here because I hoped that you could free both of us from The System, but I had you take a massive risk when all that I know of these places is that The System can’t get inside, and that they were the bases of those who had once fought against The System. ]
I can barely keep up with the endless stream of shocking, and likely dangerous information Alice is writing out for me. Before she can ramble on any further and recede into her shell I stand up and speak out.
“Stop.”
Looking up from her face buried in her knees I see the look on her face, fear. Afraid that I am about to chew her out, scream at her, reject her in some way.
I step forward and crouch beside her, unable to properly comfort her as the figure before me is nothing more than a projection.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I don’t care. I don’t care that you were sent to kill me or whatever because I know that is not what you wanted. I came here for you, and I don’t regret it even after nearly dying to that stupid protector thingy. I want to help you.”
She takes a moment to register my words before cracking.
[ Why?! Why are you helping me? Why are you being so kind to me when I have been lying to you this entire time?! ]
“Why? Simple. It is because in both my lives, you are the first person who has ever been kind to me. And before you go on again about lying to me or tricking me, just stop. It is clear that The System was making you do it, and that you fought against that. You saved me many times, dropping hints left and right that I would have died without. You did that even right after we first met.”
I make sure to look right into her shining silver eyes when I say this last part.
“You helped me even when you had no reason to, and it was for no other reason than kindness. You are the first person I have ever been able to call a friend. Why wouldn’t I try and help a friend out.”
Smiling at her I stand up and begin walking into the temple.
“Come on, I nearly died to get you to this temple. I might as well see what all the fuss is about,”
Not looking back I wander up to the large black double doors that look as though they are made of polished obsidian. Just as I reach the door a new and rather small message pops up in my vision.
[ Asshole. ]
I can’t help the grin creeping onto my face as I see Alice glare at me from the side.
[ Only friend huh? I hope you are not trying to compete for the shittiest life award because I promise I have you beat. ]
“Oh yeah?”
[ Yeah, but I can tell you about it once we are truly free. ]
Finally seeing a small smile creep onto the girl's face I nod to her, and myself, then push the doors to the eerie black temple open.
----------------------------------------
Sitting atop a cliff a crimson shadow smiles to itself under the light of the moons.
“So, she made it after all. It seems I wasn’t wrong in my assessment of her capabilities.”
Hopping off its rocky perch the demon drops into the forest below. A snarling beast sees the falling figure and attempts to snap at it before it reaches the ground.
Crack!
In moments the level 200 beast finds its head facing the wrong direction.
“Mangy mutt. Sigh, I do wish the insects of this forest would learn how to judge an opponent's strength already. That girl's plant friend is capable of it and yet somehow the amount of intelligence in this forest is rather lacking.”
Stepping across the air, the demon's feet never touch the ground as though setting foot on the earth is beneath it. A trail of blood and carnage forms as the shadowed figure makes its way towards a nearby cavern opening.
“I can’t wait to see the look on her face.”
Snickering to itself, the demon fades into the night contemplating the chaotic future soon to be.
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[ What about Snappy? I thought it was your friend too? ]
“Nah, while I may call it a friend, it is different. Snappy and I have more of a business relationship, I know it would eat me the second I am no longer worth the trouble. You however are someone I actually trust not to stab me in the back.”
As we chat with each other about this and that we begin our search through the mysterious system blocking temple.
The walls are all the same black obsidian, smooth and reflective. Perfectly pristine despite the obvious decay of the city outside. The only deviations in the perfectly angular design of the inside of the temple are the countless tiny runes carved into the rockface. A subtle golden glow emanating from the grooves.
I am a bit afraid to touch the walls as I don’t know what the runes do or what might happen. I had seen some runework before under one of my many tutors as a kid. I only know the basic runes and a few of the more complicated ones I managed to figure out on my own, but none of the runes on these walls look remotely familiar.
Alice apparently knows nothing of the runes either, having looked at practically every rune we came across in an instant due to the fact that she is seeing everything around me through my light magic. I had been wondering how she was seeing and hearing now that she is disconnected from The System. It turns out that Alice had been using my light magic to project herself the whole time, but the reason The System never used that access to kill me is because it couldn’t influence my mind.
According to Alice’s explanation it all functions similar to how hypnosis works. There is no way to use my magic to do anything I don’t want it to do. Since I trust Alice, she is able to project herself into my vision and look around at the area with my light magic with a lot of freedom. The chat bubbles are a result of not having The System’s help to produce sound anymore. She can’t even actually hear me and is instead reading my lips to be able to converse with me.
After a few minutes of chatting and examining the rune covered walls, Alice and I turn another corner in the strange maze of a hallway before coming to a halt as the path opens up to a staggeringly large room with a floating cube in the center the size of a city block. I can feel the waves of mana emanating from the cube that vaguely reminds me of that cube god I met when I died on earth.
Contraptions of all kinds line the sides of the cavernous room and even what looks like barracks along the walkways above. The space is an eclectic mess of magical machines and militaristic living all centered around the device in the center.
“So, uh. Any clue that we are looking at?”
[ Nope, lets go touch it. ]
Shrugging at the obviously reckless suggestion I begin walking forwards to do exactly that, because it wouldn’t be the dumbest thing I did today to be honest.
As I get closer and closer I can feel a subtle buzzing noise in my head. And just when I am within arms reach of the mysterious floating cube, it shivers. The runes start glowing in waves and patterns and then the previously bright room dims in an instant. I know I should back away already but I am committed to my stupidity today so I reach out my hand and touch the cold black surface. Everything stops, the shaking, the hum, the shifting runes, it all freezes like time has come to a halt.
Then that frozen time cracks. The cube starts rapidly shifting in form, pieces jutting out, disconnecting, reconnecting, squashing, and stretching. The complex fractal-like structure opens up and a staircase appears before me in a line of floating steps.
I look over at Alice and see her with a determined look on her face, a contrast to my usual aloof wry smile I often wear. I don’t have quite as much invested in this as her but as her friend I put on my own determined look and head into the cube. The steps behind us moving away and filling out the rest of the staircase with each step we ascend. After leaving the last step for a much larger black platform the walls shut behind us and the glowing runes cut out.
A minute in the dark, two, then three the hum I had been hearing returns and the lights of the runes slowly begin to fill the room once again. Even with my light magic in all the different modes I had not been able to see a thing but now I can see dozens of glowing tubes networking through the area, filled with golden mana cores leaking even more light.
As I admire the sheer number of powerful mana cores that must be what powers this temple, a voice speaks out from the air before me.
“Welcome to the haven, If you are hearing this, it means we failed.”