I saw the arrow approach in minute detail, its deadly point reaching ever closer to my face, but that all changed when my Luck Charges took that huge dip. My perception was still slowed down from my perceived demise, and I saw that the arrow started to degrade and break apart as it inched closer. It was as if the wood and metal had somehow formed microscopic fissures in its design before breaking.
In mere moments the arrow that would have ended my life turned into nothing but motes of dust, and I swear that for a fraction of a second, those dust particles dispersed in just the perfect way that they spelled a message:
Awaken.
Did Noe want me to wake her up from her sleep? But how? I wish she spelled out detailed instructions while she was at it, but that would be asking for too much. At least I knew that she was still around, somewhere out there.
And just as quickly as that message formed, it disappeared into the wind and I was left questioning if everything that I just saw was all simply a figment of my imagination. Yet the next event left no room for interpretation.
The second the last bit of dust drifted into the darkness, a sudden flash of blinding light assaulted our group, followed by the earth-shaking boom of thunder that sounded more like the bellows of a raging demon than a mere thunderclap.
We all turned toward the direction of the sound, and the afterimage of a massive lightning strike was still lingering in the distance. It was clear that the lightning struck in the direction where those arrows came from. Whatever tried to kill me had angered the slumbering System, and as much as I would love to thank her for saving my life, the way she did it left much to be desired. Vadeem stood at the side, lost in thought.
He had seen the whole series of events play out, and he was giving me a look of questioning. I don’t think I can explain this situation away by simply saying that I had a skill for it, but the big man had the presence of mind to understand that those questions could be asked later. For now, our survival was key, and all else could wait. I can only hope that I can think of a satisfactory answer when the time comes.
The shock of such a seemingly impossible event left the gathered people stunned, but soon cries of worship filled the air once more.
“The Light Bringer’s Wrath!” they cried, “It is the Wrath of God!”
“Oh, holy God, please smite our enemies!”
“Smite the unbelievers!”
“How dare they try to harm the God!”
And on and on they droned. It took Patar a good while to calm down his people, but the fervor in their eyes never left even once the battle companies were re-established. Many had already forgotten about their losses and looked eager to crusade forth.
While Patar was going around and reestablishing order, the twins - who rejoined us quickly after that initial assault - were tasked to lead a scout team to check out the epicenter of the lightning strike. Vadeem had gone with them to serve as a guard, but he gave me a strange look of worry before leaving with them. I tried to gesture that everything was still fine and under control, but I doubt he believed me.
I had my own task to do as well. I took a look at the other arrows that had missed their targets and struck the ground. There was something strange about them when I saw it first but I couldn't quite put my finger on what that was then. It wasn’t until this moment of relative calm that I realized why that was.
The arrowheads were made of metal.
Almost everything that I had seen used by the inhabitants of this world was made of wood and stone, and not even the cookware was made out of any metallic substance. So how did these arrows come to be?
I took a closer look at these arrows and saw that they were expertly crafted. All three of the surviving arrows looked the same, a clear sign of manufacturing, which meant that they were not handmade. The fletching was put into place with care, and the entire shaft was sturdy and aerodynamic.
In fact, they kind of looked like the arrows that Yoona used. No, I turned them around a bit and saw that they were exactly the same as hers. Yet it certainly couldn’t have been her shooting at us. It just meant that the arrows had to have come from Central. To double-check, I used the Rookie Arbiter eyes to see if I could get any more information about them.
Hunter’s Arrow (E rank)
Description: We see you, Walter. There is no place to escape, no way to hide. We know. You are not forgiven. You will fail.
Hunter’s Arrow (E rank)
Description: Your struggle is meaningless. Give in, give up. We hunt, and we hate, and we will destroy.
Hunter’s Arrow (E rank)
Description: Your Light will fade, and your Dream will end, and the Dusk will fall. We accept neither compromise nor competition. We do not forget.
Well, now it’s clear where these arrows came from. It seems that the Trash Matrix has finally taken it upon itself to act, but what did the description of that last arrow mean? What dream is ending? Is it talking about me, or Noe, or was it simply unable to separate the two? I'm pretty sure I had some random skill that obscured my information being seen, so was that affecting Origin as well?
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I cursed at how little I still knew about the damn situation. It seems that for every question I had answers to, five more unknowns popped up.
There was something distinctly unique about Noe, and I needed to find out what that was. I’ve been taking her for granted so far, and I finally saw that I never tried to understand the system and just chalked her existence up as another part of the crazy Trials. Yet I was too late to do so again. I had thought that I only needed to survive these Trials, but I was clearly mistaken. I would lose too much if I simply chose to ignore all else and focus solely on survival. I needed to take the initiative and find out more about my situation.
And as if some unknown being heard my pleas, an opportunity to do just that appeared. Perhaps it was Noe helping me out once more, although no Luck Charges were expanded this time.
“Lord Walter,” Q’s voice sounded in my mind, “You need not answer if others are with you, but I have some important news that I must share.”
I gave a small nod, although I wasn’t sure if Q could see me or not. The whole situation’s gotten so out of control that I wasn’t sure what the limitations were on Central’s side.
Q continued in either case, “I’ve managed to uncover some of the abnormalities around the Origin Matrix, not everything, mind you, but at least I have some clues as to why it’s acting so strangely now.”
I looked around the clearing and saw that most of the people around me were still busy; some were tending to the wounded, others were down on their knees in worship, and the majority of the gathered were getting ready to move out again. I had a little bit of time to myself at least, so I went to a dark corner away from the crowd, took out some food, and pretended to eat. No one usually bothered me when they saw I was eating, and I needed to speak with Q.
“I can talk for a while,” I whispered, making sure once more that no one could overhear me, “Tell me what you found.”
“Origin’s detected a major threat to Central’s stability in that world you’re in, which is why I suspect it sent the Anomaly and yourself over. It… it might be related to the incident ten cycles ago.”
I was starting to suspect more and more that the threat that Origin was trying to get rid of was, in fact, myself, or perhaps Noe more specifically, but I chose to keep that theory to myself. No need to correct a misconception that worked in my favor. Let’s just let Q think that it was Jae-Hyun’s fault that we were dragged into these strange situations.
Q continued, “There’s a shard of something ancient that was recently unsealed, and my readings show that the shard is trying to establish communications with its main body. I believe that the darkness is the result of those attempts. I am unsure if it is succeeding in those transmissions, but it is causing instability in doing so.”
I frowned, was that shard a part of Noe? Was that why she was asking me to wake her up?
“Whatever it’s trying to do, Origin is not happy about it, hence why you and your group were sent. This might be why the Anomaly was introduced in the first place. I’m sure that if you manage to destroy or contain the shard, Origin will return to normal.”
“How can you be sure it’ll go back to normal?” I asked.
“The higher-ups have been trying to reboot our site’s Origin server, but that darkness you’ve been experiencing is interfering with any of our attempts to do so. Nothing should be able to interfere with our access to the Matrix, but it’s as if Origin itself is disallowing our engineers from fixing it.”
Huh, it seems that Q’s side of things isn’t privy to the emotional amplification of the shard, or the sentient nature of Origin itself. There appears to be a distinct disconnect between the Regressor’s information and Central’s. Both sides only know a portion of the truth, and I was in the perfect position to learn all of it.
“Do you know anything else about this shard? Are there more of them?”
“That’s all I know, and perhaps there are others out there, but I’ve found no indication of such,” he answered, tone slightly angry, “All I could uncover is that this shard is old, it’s powerful, and Origin views it is a major threat to Central as a whole.”
“But the Origin Matrix should surely know more about the shard and this situation, why not ask it?”
“Lord Arbiter,” Q said confused, “Only 10 cycles have passed since your return, but our technology hasn’t improved that much. You should know that Origin does not have the ability to directly communicate with anyone.”
Shit, I messed up. I still wasn’t thinking straight, but I hadn't misspoken so badly that I couldn't recover.
“Sorry,” I said, “This whole situation’s getting to me.”
"I understand," he replied.
But wait, the Trash Matrix did talk to me, maybe not directly, but those damn item and title descriptions were clearly aimed my way. Did that mean that Q and his staff couldn’t even see the same information that I could? Some more food for thought.
“Anyway,” I continued, “I’m already investigating this shard, and it's proving to be more difficult to access than initially thought. Is there anything you can do to assist?”
“Not directly,” Q answered apologetically, “As I said before, our ability to interfere in that dimension is extremely limited, just communicating with you like this is stretching my abilities. I can’t even send over small objects, let alone personal without destroying the stability of the whole dimension.”
“So what can you do for me?”
“I believe that you will most likely need to enter your secondary form for what’s to come, which would be most problematic if you are seen using it as you guide and observe the Anomaly.”
“That is true,” I nodded.
“I have a solution that that,” he said and I could hear the smile in his voice, “I can enchant your human guise so that your Secondary Form will appear to look like a Xolloid Spawn.”
“A Xolloid Spawn?”
“Ah, sorry, I forgot that you were not here for so long. That is what Aspirants turn into when they accept a Sponsorship from Lord Rogue, before they, uh…”
“Before they go insane?”
“Yes,” Q continued, “But appearing as one should help to explain why you can change forms since you indeed have a sponsorship from the Lord General. And do not worry, Walter, the change is purely cosmetic.”
I smiled. It seems the universe wasn’t completely hostile to me. I was worried about how I would explain all these changes that were happening to me, now that Vadeem had seen practically everything, and the sponsorship was the perfect excuse. I just have to spin it in a way that benefits me the most, and I’ll be set. And even better still, with this enchantment, I could finally use the most powerful tool at my disposal.
I spoke to Q before the sense of relief and joy could overcome me, “Yes, do so.”
A small, almost imperceptible ripple opened in the air around me, and a tiny ray of silver light shot through the gap. It entered my right arm, and almost immediately I felt its effect. An agonizing pain shot through me, and I had to bite my knuckles to stop myself from screaming. The pain lasted what seemed like a lifetime, but eventually, it faded and my arm was left numb. I pulled up my sleeve to see what had happened.
On my right arm was an intricate tattoo, its design a series of tight, neat writing inked in a language that I couldn’t read. The writing spiraled from my wrists and covered the entirety of my right shoulder. I wanted to know what it read, but Noe wasn’t doing her usual translating here, maybe I’ll be able to see what was written when she’s back online.
I turned my attention back to Q, “Thank you, this will prove useful. Is there anything else to report?”
“Yes…” Q said slowly, “Due to this unique situation, many of our Sponsors, including the Lord General and Lord Babylon, have filed official complaints to the Tribunal. These disruptions have had an immensely adverse effect on our normal operations, and someone’s needed to smooth over the concerns of our shareholders and sponsors.”
Oh… I didn’t like where this was going.
“You have been summoned as the official representative of Central.”