Chapter 547: Bloopers

Chapter 547: Bloopers

The scorpion stopped.

Then it reached out with an impossibly large claw, and with the speed, power, size, and surprise factor, suddenly targeted the bright glowing angel in the sky. Its claw tightened around my neck, and decapitated me with a snip.

My head tumbled through the sky, end over end, no longer having long hair to get in my way. All my biomancy modifications were good for keeping me awake and conscious.

Heal. HEAL! I screamed to myself, trying to activate the skill, not knowing why I couldn’t do it or feel it. I caught a glimpse of a glowing six-winged angel high up in the sky, head intact, flying fast towards Fenrir and Iona.

Heal!

All my powers had deserted me. The System was gone. The ground was rushing up at me. I-

I love you Iona, Auri.

I shuddered as memories poured into [Astral Archives], pushing aside and compartmentalizing dozens of unpleasant thoughts. Fenrir slowed down enough for me to catch up, and I slammed into Iona’s arms, pulling my knees up to my chest, full-body shudders having nothing to do with the cold.

“What’s wrong?” Iona instantly caught on.

“L-l-land.” I stammered out. “We have to land.”

Only the extremely well-trained part of - I hesitated to call it me, not with the revelations battering my mind - was able to stay vaguely vigilant and aware of the world around me. I was scanning for additional threats and attacks, ready to respond but unsure if I should.

I was in a bit of a daze as Iona landed in muddy tundra, in the heart of an old growth forest. I reached out for an old set of runes, instantly summoning a half-dome of metal around me to act as an instant, temporary shelter. I continued to hold my knees, gently rocking myself as Fenrir and Iona busied themselves around me, securing the shelter.

I’d died. I had the memories of being decapitated, of seeing a scared head falling to the ground. I - no, Elaine, the true one - had been in there. My stream of consciousness hadn’t continued uninterrupted. I’d come into existence the moment the head had been fully separated and a new one regrown.

Tears threatened to freeze on my face as I dragged my fingers down my cheeks, almost like I was trying to peel my face off.

From my point of view, I’d been flying along, decapitated, then I regrew my head and carried on.

Was that truly ‘me’ though?

I felt like an imposter. The clone who’d supplanted the original.

The chain of events were clear. I had lost my head, my mind and consciousness falling to the ground to burst open like an overripe grape. That was the real ‘Elaine’.

Who was I now? A mewling babe with multiple lifetimes of experience? Just...

My mind circled over it again and again, going over the events, my horror mounting. I don’t know how long I stayed there, the sun doing the weird sunrise-actually-sunset thing that higher longitudes experienced. The nausea and disorientation were intense. I threw myself forward and threw up, barely avoiding backsplash from the wind.

Iona sat with me and caressed me the whole time, murmuring in my ear.

“What’s wrong? I’m here for you. I love you. It’s alright. Everything’s okay. Everyone’s alive.”

I shuddered at her touch, felt warmed by her love.

It was fake. False. How would she react when she knew I wasn’t Elaine, her Elaine, but an imposter? One wearing a skin suit so perfect her divine blessing couldn’t pierce it?

Goddess.

Auri.

It wasn’t fair to her. She’d destroy herself out of guilt. Elaine had gone to rescue her, and had died for it.

I had to tell Iona. I had to confess. But her love, her warmth, was like a bonfire in a blizzard. I wanted to stay with her just a little longer. Enjoy her love just a moment more.

For a moment the idea flashed through my mind. FOlloow newest stories at no(v)el/bi/n(.)com

Just never tell Iona. Carry on like nothing had happened. Live a double life like a changeling.

The guilt would destroy me. It would eat me up alive from the inside out.

“I’m... I’m not Elaine.” I stammered out, waiting for the inevitable blow. Iona leaned back - still hugging me - took a long look at me, and pressed back in.

“Yes you are.” She insisted.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Of course you are.” Iona’s hug was stickier than an octopus.

A shrunk-down Fenrir came over and sniffed me.

“Elaine.” He concluded, nodding with the certainty of a detective who’d closed the easiest case in the world.

“What makes you think you’re not Elaine?” Iona asked.

“Because she was in the head! It got chopped off! She fell, and... and I grew back in her place.”

“Why does that matter?” Iona asked. I shot her a confused, betrayed look. She hugged me more.

“No, seriously, I’m trying to understand here what the issue is. I get it’s disturbing you, I want to know why.”

Ah.

“Because I am my consciousness?” I said. “Her uninterrupted perspective of the world went that way?”

“So everytime you go to sleep you die?” Iona asked with significant skepticism.

“No! Not like that. You wake up in the same body, as the same person. There’s some pausing, but it’s not interrupted. It’s continuous.”

“Curse you! I swear I’ll-”

Splat

I was not immune to dragontail.

A familiar blue-robed demon was at the front.

“Martin! How are you?” I asked him.

“Elaine.” He didn’t miss a beat. I was guessing being a [Librarian] included supercharged versions of my memory skills, among other things. “Welcome back. Are you here to return the books you checked out?”

I froze, my mind racing. Wait. What books? Had I checked something out and committed the cardinal sin of not returning it? Oh gods, how high were the fees? Wait a minute...

Martin grinned.

“Just messing with you! Here for anything special, or just looking around?”

I leaned in with Iona and dropped my voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Ah, well, you see, while I was here, there was a certain book in the section that doesn’t exist that I saw, but never ended up reading. I was wondering if I could be allowed to take a look at it?”

Martin went from affable and friendly to on-guard in a heartbeat. He glanced at Iona and back to me.

“It’s going to strongly depend on which book and why.” He said. “Follow me to my office.”

We found ourselves in his sealed stronghold a while later, Martin sitting behind his desk with his hands folded on his desk.

“Now. Make your case.” He said. “You are not here as one of the [Students] working in the library, but as an outsider requesting access to otherwise forbidden knowledge.”

I straightened up, silently communicating with Iona. I was taking point on this.

“I’m a [Loremaster] now, although I’m unsure for how much longer.” I started. “I’ve got access to vast quantities of information, knowledge, and dangers already. I’ve already been trusted to read the contents of the library in the past. We’re looking to read The Secret of the Pekari, to better fight them.”

Martin looked like he wanted to laugh when he heard the title. Instead, he shook his head.

“I’m not going to flat-out deny you, but please trust me when I say this. Reading that book will harm your ability to combat the Pekari. If you wish to learn all about them, there’s a section dedicated to the Pekari in the library, which I will be happy to guide you to. However, if you insist, I will let you read it.”

Iona and I traded another look. Knowledge was power.

But listening to people who knew stuff, and was strongly suggesting against it was wisdom. No amount of power mattered if it wasn’t wisely applied, and there had to be a good reason Martin was warning us off it.

“Alright, we’ll skip that for now. Let’s go hit the section about the Pekari in the library?” I suggested to Iona.

She waggled her eyebrows. That wasn’t all Iona wanted to hit in the library.

A coatl shot out of the sky, aiming for Moxie. Iona started to react, reaching out to strangle it single-handedly, but was too slow. Its jaws extended comically large, and it ate Moxie in a single bite before flying off into the sunset.

Wait! I recognized that coatl!

I shook a fist after the feathered serpent.

“CORDAMOOOOOO!”

I couldn’t tell what the other Warden was thinking, not with their mask and lack of expressive body language, but I’d guess he wasn’t too amused.

“Divine blessing. I see. Many thanks to you. I will pass the information along. What did you want to meet for?” He completely ignored the elf passed out on the floor. Must not be a fan.

Medically, he was fine.

Iona smiled winningly, and I was confident in her silver tongue.

“Well! One of our friends, a phoenix, bonded companion to Sentinel Dawn here, went to the North Continent. She was supposed to be back by now, but hasn’t arrived. We’d like permission to go there and bring her back.”

“Sure, that’s a perfectly good reason to head up there.”

A day later we were drinking with Sasha, looking at the Dungeon.

A great clashing of steel rang out through the temple, killing the music, and that was my signal to go. I slowly walked through the steel arch, keeping an impressed half-eye on Iona.

The Valkyries did things a little more... violently.

The Sixth presented arms, letting me walk through them.

The Valkyries had a complex and intricate weaving of flashing blades moving at superhuman speeds and strength. If Iona walked at exactly the right pace, she’d pass through them all without a single nick.

Worst case, she’d lose her head entirely. Literally.

In their tradition, it was a test of resolve, commitment, and bravery. Anyone could pass through, and the idea was simple. If they weren’t willing to test their lives against the steel, if they weren’t committed or brave enough to weather the storm, what sort of spouse would they make?

It was impressive, watching them-

My hands flew up into my face in horror as one of the Valkyries slipped, their blade going straight through Iona’s chest. She went down with a gurgle.

“Medic!”

The Dragon was deep in her lair, stirring. Layers upon layers of plots and plans were slowly ripening, coming to fruiting. It was time to reactivate one of her oldest assets.

With careful deliberation, she crafted a fine illusion, breathing life into it. She set it to walk free, seeing how it walked, ran, and jumped. How it would try to use skills.

Test after test it passed, and she was just about ready to unleash it upon the world again, a deadly agent to further her aims. Last was the voice test, trying out the name it had the last time it walked the world.

“Hi! I’m Sentinel Magic!”