"There was nothing! Nothing on any floor!" The man babbled. Tears mingled with sweat on his face as we spoke. His name was Richard, another caught in that terrible cycle. I had him sit back against a smooth stone, trying to keep some measure of calm. From what I pieced together, he'd been a part of the Initialization before...a much longer time than myself, by his recounting.
"You escaped too," I remarked, keeping my tone gentle. My own recent 'liberation' sat ill at ease in this moment. His was a freedom born of desperation, and clearly left lingering trauma.
"No. None of us got out. They just… stopped.” Richard ran a hand through his matted hair. "There were more floors, twenty, thirty! Some of us thought...if we got through enough loops, the System would change." There was a haunted sadness in his eyes, reflecting the weight of years trapped in those iterations.
His words stirred something deep within me. "How many?” I asked. That cycle we both endured, my growing strength...was it merely an illusion of progress? Could I ever outmatch the endless floors? Richard choked back a sob. "Years. Not sure. The days blend...and in the higher numbers, you start to forget things too. Like that tutorial wasn't a part of it. That was always supposed to be there."
And just like that, my newfound arrogance shattered. Was Lilith right, am I merely an anomaly to be disposed of once those Administrators tire of playing? Even when they weren't trying to attack me, their influence seeped in and destroyed from within.
Richard shivered, looking up at the cliff I'd stood vigil upon. "Those damn cliffs, there on the last floors… you see them everywhere." It felt like a strange dream recounted across timelines. I recalled the feeling of dread just staring up at them in the loops. Richard continued, "And that damn river. No idea why, but you just hear that rushing water even after..." Then he trailed off, the last of his fragile composure waning.
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My resolve flickered, replaced with a bone-deep exhaustion. How do you even fight an idea like this? I thought of those battles back in the loops, and what remained now. An unsettling truth sank in; what I absorbed during those fights wasn't a 'stat boost' for some imaginary character sheet. It was someone else's echoes, another trapped soul turned fuel by the System. The same kind of fuel now pulsing through me.
Just as despair threatened to overwhelm me, the sound of footsteps broke the quiet. Lilith strode out of the shadows, a flicker of concern in her eyes that softened when they settled on Richard.
"Rest now," she whispered, and that was the last thing I heard before a comforting darkness swooped in and carried me away.
--
Awakening felt like falling upwards. There was the scent of herbs and pine, and I cracked open my eyes to a ceiling made from weathered wooden beams. Lilith sat beside me, a cup of steaming broth in her hands. The comfort of it – warm liquid on a parched throat – was an almost forgotten sensation.
"Where are we?" I croaked out.
"A place lost in the seams," Lilith answered, a strange mixture of sadness and determination in her gaze. "This isn't a sanctuary, it's a waystation. We must gather our strength here, then continue down the river." She pushed the broth towards me, and I cautiously managed a few sips. It was bland, but with a strange invigorating quality. "Richard won't be joining us. He found his release a different way."
No question needed, I understood what release meant. I looked down at my own hands, at the energy lingering beneath the skin. Another soul absorbed by this damned System, another spark snuffed out. I swallowed hard, rage and grief intertwining.
"Then we take his fight on," I rasped, staring out the small cottage window. Lilith raised an eyebrow, "Don't underestimate what lies ahead, boy," she cautioned. "These Administrators, they can twist the very notion of reality..."
Her words were not intended to dissuade. They stoked a fire. "I don't need a tutorial for strength anymore," I answered, my voice stronger now. "The System gave me all the lessons I'll ever need, in their own brutal way." I looked at Lilith, finding a new strength in the unwavering focus of her eyes.
Our paths have converged at a crossroads, a bridge connecting broken cycles. This wasn't just about my survival, it was an escape route forged from the discarded souls this System used as a playground.