Watching those that worked sorting out the various sizes of mithril metal, I leaned against the tower, eagerly eating a sandwich with Diana by my side.
"Honestly it feels a bit unreal. With everything that’s been happening recently…” Sighing as I finished the sandwich, I watched Isabelle talking with some of the workers, a smile on her face as if she’s having a casual conversation.
“Losing sight of normality, Ruby?” Hearing Diana giggle, I pursed my lips and nodded slowly.
“I have…recently it’s been all about magic and spells, managing hundreds of people, worrying about everything…” Sighing, I slid down and plopped my butt on the floor, with Diana following. “Then there is the worry that I’m not leading well, not doing enough or a good job. The fear that we could very well be dead the next day…” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I suddenly gasp. “Sorry, I didn't mean to dump my emotional load on you.”
Diana giggles once more before pulling out a water jug and two cups, filling both and handing one to me. “Don’t be. You of all people have so much weight on your shoulders. You’ve been spending less time with Rebecca too, it’s no wonder you’ve been so pent up.”
“Ah…yes. We’ve become so damn busy that spending time together is difficult.” Sighing, the last time we had spent together was when we explored the dimension. Ever since we started preparing for the Nexus Event, we’d barely had any alone time, if we didn’t count the short sleep at the medic camp.
“You need a proper routine. How about this? One day head out and do a Dimension alone with Rebecca, the next day all your leader stuff, then the rest of the week doing what you need to?”
As she spoke, I realised that I truly didn’t have a set schedule. Right now I just went with the flow, instead I should’ve been keeping a schedule instead. While it’s true this world is always changing, having a routine would let me stop being so swarmed.
“Got it, I’ll do that. Sorry Diana, this talk should’ve been about you.”
“Oh don’t be, Ruby. I’m more than happy to help out. I just became pregnant, so there is a lot of time for people to talk about me.” With both of us laughing, we got up and upon seeing this, Isabelle excused herself from the group she’d joined and came back over.
“Right, we’re heading north now. Diana, what are you doing now?”
“Heading back to help with dinner. Though I’m slightly limited thanks to a certain crushed hand.” Her hand had mostly healed, with mostly bruising left. My guilt must’ve shown as Diana once again giggled. “Ruby, you don’t need to blame yourself for that, it was my choice. Make sure you pace yourself and go visit everyone, they’re equally worried about you.”
Parting with Diana, Isabelle and I head north, then west and finally south. Isabelle would part from me and talk to the various groups working in those areas while I inspected the damages, brainstorming ways to deal with future attacks. The worst off had been the north side as Diana had said, but this came down to Dawn’s transformation destroying parts of the wall and inflicting some friendly fire, thankfully no casualties as a result but certainly enough to disrupt others from fighting.
Finally, we headed towards the burial site. When we arrived, we could easily see why it had been plotted to be the place, it’s one of the more beautiful places, fitting for burying those who died fighting. A clean grassland, there are rows of flowers that had been obviously cultivated by someone and a fence that is being built around it.
Twenty two holes had been dug up already, though nothing preoccupied them. According to Isabelle, the bodies had been frozen while arrangements were made. After reassuring me that Aerith hadn’t been the one to do the job, we made plans to at the very least have tombstones for them. Organising for one of the nearby workers to relay this order, the two of us headed back to our office.
Isabelle worked on condensing the information she had gathered while I started on creating the contribution system. While I wanted to get the server set up to deliver streamable music and movies, for the sake of future proofing I had to tie it in with the contribution system.
A day later, we once again got dressed and headed out, this time heading towards the burial place. From the reports I read, out of the twenty two that died three had been from Geralt’s team and the rest from Trinity’s. Seeing the small gathering, I pursed my lips and walked to the front, where Sheep, Trinity and Geralt stood.
“Ah, Mid? Good to see you out and about.” Sheep nodded sharply to me as I took my place next to him.
“I couldn’t not come to this. How are you holding up, Trinity, Geralt?”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“I’ve been…better. Never thought I’d lose my men in another world…” Geralt looked rough, like he hadn’t slept for days. I understood why, for him to have been travelling the world for the sake of finding friends and family of those under him, to lose people like this must’ve devastated him.
“I thought I had been prepared…I lost people before, but no matter how prepared I thought I was…” Trinity wiped her tears away before clenching her fist. “I have to get stronger…” Barely whispering, Trinity seemed to be trying to resolve herself.
“Sorry, if only I prepa-”
“You don’t need to apologise, Midnight. We heard you nearly died protecting the base. And no one could’ve ever predicted how massive this attack was considering the first Nexus event was a joke compared to it.” Geralt raised a hand and pats my shoulder. “No one blames the leadership, we’re all aware that we could die at any moment. We just need time to process it and mourn. Laying them to rest today will do good for us.”
After some time, and with the addition of more people, caskets were soon carried over, being laid into the now marked graves. I had thought of making some sort of speech, though I had no idea what I would say. Sheep however stopped me, telling me that right now wouldn’t be the right moment and that it’ll be best to let Geralt and Trinity handle it.
I knew why he said as much. While we were the leaders, a lot of these people still looked to either Geralt or Trinity to lead them, even though Trinity was no longer a leader. At this time, while fear was strong, it’ll be best for them to be comforted by those they knew, it wasn’t my place.
Bullshit.
The recent frustrations within me bubbled, that feeling from earlier that made me question if I should be leading surged in me as the last of the caskets were lowered and buried. Looking around, I saw those that attended wore the same faces, all of them looking terrified, fear in their eyes as they watched the last casket be buried. I knew what was running through their minds, all of them were wondering if it would be them next time.
“Listen up, all of you.” Stepping forward, I looked at everyone as their attention turned to me, most looking confused. “Today we mourn those who we lost. Never forget those we laid to rest, remember them for who they were, celebrate their lives and always think of them.” Seeing some nods, I continued.
“Tomorrow…tomorrow you need to stand. Stand in defiance of this world, take a step against this forsaken land. All I see in all of you is fear and you’re damned right to be scared! We’re all terrified that we’ll end up buried tomorrow. And so what?!” Taking a step closer, I pursed my lips and scanned the crowd. “Are you all going to let this fucking world win? We were all taken from our homes and brought here to defend this shithole, being on the verge of death with every step.
“Don’t let it win! Fight this fucking place, even if you’re going to die, fight it with all you’ve got! Get stronger, get stronger so you can get home! You all should know a few of us went back to our world already, which means we can return! Don’t hide away fearful of death, raise yourselves up and fight! If we go down, let’s go down while bringing those who want us dead along with us! Fight, so you can escape this fucked up world and so those who died today will know their sacrifice wasn’t wasted so you can die without even a whimper!”
Seeing the downcast looks of those in front of me, I heard a voice from the middle of them, from someone I couldn’t see, but could hear.
“Fuck it, if I’m going down, it’s with a bang.”
With those words, everyone in the group started to look more determined, the fear abating as more people started to voice their desire to fight rather than be depressed. I knew my speech wasn’t fantastic, in fact most of it came from my inner frustration at myself, but seeing everyone start to become more energetic made me feel more confidence.
“Good, you’re all looking a lot more determined. For today, go and rest, forget your duties for now. Take the time to mourn those you lost then tomorrow rise up and work on overcoming this world. If you don’t know what to do, come find a leader and we’ll help.” With my final words, I walked away from the group with Sheep following me.
Hearing him sigh as we started walking back to the office, I looked over my shoulder at him.
“I know, bad speech. Don’t give me shit for it.”
“Ah, no, it’s not that. Actually it was a decent speech considering you’ve never had to give one like it before. I’m just thinking of the work we’re going to have to do tomorrow.”
“Ah! Sorry, I just sort of said that…”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get something arranged. What are you going to do, Ruby?”
“Finish the contribution system. It’s nearing completion and once that’s done start working on the workshop. I’m going to immerse myself in Machinery for the foreseeable future, along with doing Dimensions and what not. What about you?”
“I’ll take care of planning Jobs and Classes. The recent Nexus event really opened my eyes as to what we’re lacking and what we can do to improve. I also need to speak with Diana, something is up with her recently.”
Tilting my head slightly, I opened my mouth before realisation hit me. If Deven knew Diana was pregnant he would’ve bragged about it by now. Which meant she hadn’t told him yet, meaning she was planning to tell him later. Grinning at him, I turned and waved without looking back, heading to my office.
For the next week, I sat in my office, doing nothing but programming, finishing not only the contribution system but the media server and after testing it out found that you could easily use a profile to purchase a subscription for music, anime or movies. Telling Isabelle to get Aerith and Lemon to start planning the wiring required to provide all of it to the apartments and to assign every house and room with a unique number, I started planning out next moves.
Ranging from neutralising the Dimensions around us to additions to the base, I continued to plan our future, ensuring that whatever we faced next could be handled easily.