It wasn’t that Vye woke up, it was just that Vye was tired of being cold and wet in her bed. The itching had long since ceased, but it had left her with a heavy sense of clamminess that refused to fade. So she heaved herself up and stripped off her soaked clothes and found something casual to wear. She looked down at herself and saw jeans and a t-shirt that depicted a logo of a pre-System band. After throwing her towel over her shoulder, Vye walked pretty blindly out of her tent.

It almost came as a surprise that it was still night. For what felt like a fair stretch of time there, Vye had been replaying Aldo slipping, the strike that went through his heart, and then his heroic adjustment to still finish the job. Time seemed to accelerate around her as the replays continued. Only that image held any sway to Vye’s Perception. Everything else was just lost to that slowly fraying movie that Vye couldn’t look away from.

It had felt like she was drowning. The tears wouldn’t come out of her eyes but they pooled in her throat and scared away her breath.

With a few leaps, Vye quickly arced her body up over the edges of the tree line and landed with a dull crash inside a thick patch of brambles. Luckily System’s energy hadn’t soaked into this place for long, or the brambles would have toughened up to the point where they could leave a scratch on Vye. As it was, she simply brushed herself off and plowed her way through to leap again, taking chunks out of the distance between the Order Ducis camp and Kharon.

The area Southwest of the newly connected Zone was a wide space of plains draped between mountain ranges. Kharon was nestled up against a relatively modest series of mountains, perhaps not even reaching a height of one thousand feet above sea level. But still, the city certainly looked impressive with its flags streaming and two of its larger legs deployed, stabilizing it to lean against the mountain.

Kharon breathed out smoke and ladders, draped elegantly down to the recently excavated mines.

Yet all of those things were far from Vye’s mind as she hopped up, over and over again, crossing the rocky terrain toward the well-outfitted public baths that was one of Kharon’s most popular features.

Vye was just clambering up to the hidden Order Ducis entrance into Kharon and giving the guard a tired nod when a huge column of light smashed into the ground only a few kilometers away. Turning slightly, Vye felt something break as she saw the familiar descent of Mjolnir hitting nearby.

Although she had suspected that this would happen when Naffur ordered them to just let the other Raid Boss go without doing anything, it still struck Vye. After all, the settlement that had requested their help was too new to the System to fend off Raid Bosses on their own. These people seemed to have gone through a month of tutorial before they were thrust into the world, but it hadn’t prepared them for the brutal reality of what was happening.

So the Order Ducis has asked for help, relying on the influence of someone quite far away in order to save these people. Perhaps to the people it wouldn’t make a difference, but to Vye… As the pillar of light slowly dissipated into drifting motes, Vye could only grit her teeth.

The Order Ducis was supposed to be the one to help those on the edges of the world. They were the pioneers. And sure, Mjolnir reaching all the way out here wouldn’t have been possible without communication with the Order Ducis. But Vye couldn’t get around the truth that this was a failure.

It was all so disappointing.

Are you disappointed in us, Randidly? Unlike you, we are just...

Rather than walking through the streets, Vye quickly ascended to the rooftops of the meandering buildings of Kharon. Most of the population was involved in the extraction and refinement of metals, so the new buildings seemed to be thrown up every day. So much so that they were almost running out of room in the city proper, and there had been proposals to expand the buildings into some of the wilderness areas of the minor island that was considered Kharon.

From what Vye had heard, Tatiana had vetoed that idea. Rather than encroach into the wild space, she encouraged the the engineers in Kharon to discover ways to condense there buildings. There was talk of creating layers of the city and building houses right on top of each other. Which would usually be more of a health risk than it was worth, but the one common benefit of the System was health.

So when Vye arrived at the roofs, they were covered in raw materials and chalk marks that likely depicted future plans for development. Yet it was not a future that she was ready to face yet. Vye ignored the small marks and began to race across the roofs, rapidly gathering a rather large following of moss spirits that gleefully formed a trail behind Vye’s lithe form.

“We failed,” Vye whispered into the rushing wind around her. Although the moss spirits didn’t possess ears to hear what she said, they could probably feel her emotions very clearly. After all, Vye was one of the ones in Kharon that always gathered a large amount of moss spirits. For whatever reason, she was popular with them.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

They gathered around her in a halo, moving faster than Vye could manage. She could feel their empathy. They settled on her skin and warmed her, one small spirit at a time.

Driven by a strange impulse, Vye landed on the top of a building across the street from the public baths she was heading toward and slowly unfurled her Fate. As her image billowed outward, it pushed away most of the surrounding moss spirits. Her Fate grew directly out of a small chunk of crystalized skin in her hand, quickly becoming a rectangular map with curling edges. As she looked at it, Vye felt a twinge of regret in her heart.

Fate of the Bright-Eyed Explorer Lvl 17: The Fate of one who wants to see the edges of the world. Will keep track of the portion of the world explored by the owner of the Fate. The more of the world and the more landmarks that are viewed encounter, the greater the benefits that the Fate owner will receive as she Levels! Current benefits: +1 Free stat, +1 Agility.

The map was large and detailed, but only in a very small portion. Because the amount that Vye could see were only the places that she had been. There was some space between the Orchard and the original Erickson Steel compound, and then there was a winding path down to the Southwest. Aside from the Orchard, the only other ‘landmark’ that Vye encountered so far was Kharon itself, which earned a moving mark on the map.

All in all, Vye saw the colored and detailed lines of only one-hundredth of the full map. That, too, felt like a failure.

...maybe I should leave the Order Ducis, Vye thought rather sadly. The more I explore, the faster I’ll be able to become strong. Even without the constant training offered here… I’ve grown. I can hold my own. And if I explore more of the map…

Without thinking, Vye rolled up the map and habitually flipped it in her hand. The movements were too much for her left hand and brought all of the tension from the physical Ritual back to her. Cradling her still sore left arm to her chest, Vye shook her head slowly. Quitting the Order Ducis wouldn’t be running away. I’m not afraid of death. Just… maybe the Order Ducis isn’t where I need to be right now. Maybe this isn’t the group I thought it was.

But then again, Aldo died trying to make sure the Order Ducis became exactly that: a group that would stand against the dangerous forces in our world. To just leave after he made that sacrifice…

But… it’s not my responsibility to carry on his legacy right? I… I have to make my own choice…

Vye looked up toward the sky and was rather disappointed to see that after the terrible power of Mjolnir descended, clouds rapidly flowed forward to strangle their star-filled sky. The air was dismal and grey. Although the rain had since ceased, these clouds seemed to threaten another storm. Without any other choice, Vye sighed and hopped down off the roof to land on the ground in front of the bathhouse.

Although some people gave her strange looks as she landed lightly, things such as that were all too common in the post-System world. Idly wondering about how transportation would change in the future, Vye walked into the bathhouse.

One of the many perks of being in the Order Ducis was having a private room available at all times, but the clerk timidly informed Vye that it was already in use. Considering the late hour, it too Vye by surprise. Shaking her head, Vye simply said she would use the public women’s bath.

Whoever was using the bath currently was dealing with the same things that Vye was. And she had no desire to interrupt them. Everyone had to find their own ways to cope with the grief.

So Vye undressed and walked out into the open-air baths. Standing on the warmed stones outside the baths, Vye released a deep breath. Truly, it was a blessing that Tatiana had argued so vehemently for these to be built. It was strange to think, but Tatiana turned out to have been an even better city planner than she had been a CEO. And she certainly had been an impressive CEO.

There was a fluttering impulse for Vye to seek out Tatiana to talk about what happened, but Vye quickly suppressed it. They hadn’t talked much in the past six months, but it was actually because Tatiana was absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of work that needed to be done for Kharon to function. It wasn’t just planning the city, but she had to make decisions about haggling with the locals for foodstuffs and raw materials. In addition, Tatiana was in constant contact with the various governments and Orders, as they informed her of the continuing dominance of Zone 1 in the World Council.

No need to bother Tatiana with my sadness. Vye dipped a toe into the water and then forced her entire body down under the surface. The heat scalded her until she finally felt the cramped muscles of her hand begin to loosen. It’s not common, but people die frequently enough now that the System is here. Just because I knew him… I can’t let myself break down. I need to… figure out what I’m feeling.

And then… figure out if the Order Ducis is where I want to spend my life. Because if I accept the appointment tomorrow… I won’t let myself back down. If I want to change courses, I need to do it now.

Without the need to breathe, Vye remained underwater. The baths were rather large, and the two other women in the room had their own private corners. Which meant that Vye could just hang there, suspended in the water, waiting for the heat to completely unwind her.

Unfortunately, some problems weren’t so easy to solve. All too soon, Vye’s eyes fluttered and opened. Still underwater, she realized that she could see the weak half-light of dawn’s approach; she had probably been floating there for almost an hour.

With a sinuous stroke, she pushed herself to the surface and swam to the edge of the bath. After leaving the pool, she quickly dried herself off, all but her hair which Vye didn’t feel like bothering with, and returned to the dressing room. There she quickly slid back into her clothes and hurried out of the bathhouse. But a voice stopped her as she was pushing open the door to walk onto the street.

“Vye?”

Even as she recognized the voice and flinched inwardly, Vye turned around. An extremely gaunt eyed Garrett stood there, hunched over and with this arms wrapped protectively across his torso. He was probably the one using the Order Ducis room. Just like hers, his hair dripped water down onto his shoulders. But as Garrett looked at Vye, something hardened in his eyes. “...We should talk.”