By the time Olivia and the others had woken up the next day, and discovered the note which Zane had left them. He had already retraced his steps and resurrected his siblings. Hell, the man was long gone and had even progressed quite far on his journey southward. But they didn't know this. How could they?
There were any number of directions which Zane could have taken, and with his speed, there was no way they could ever catch up to him. Because of this, the girls took most of the day off from pretty much everything.
And while Olivia was sobbing alone in her bed, she saw a peculiar message appear within her sight. A message from the system.
---
[Congratulations! You are the new owner of Gravestone!]
[Settlement Management Unlocked!]
---
Along with this notification that ownership of Gravestone and its surrounding areas had been transferred to Olivia, there was a brief note along with it. Which appeared to be written from Zane in addition to the one he left behind in a physical form.
---
[Dear Olivia,
There's not much I can say that I haven't already expressed via the note I left behind. But... I wanted you to know that our time together has meant more to me than you can possibly imagine. You were once little more in my eyes than a pain in the ass. You were my homeroom teacher, and yet, despite leaving me to my sleep like I desired, you constantly meddled in my affairs.
I can honestly say that before this all began, you were the only person in my life who remotely gave a shit about me. And for that, I will be eternally thankful.
I know this apocalypse has skewed so many things about life, and our perspectives on it. Hell, I would have never thought until that fateful day that I would fall in love with my teacher. Nor would the old world ever accept such a relationship.
But I'm glad things turned out the way they did. For a time, no matter how short it was. I had an actual family with you and the others. And to show my appreciation, I am transferring ownership of Gravestone and the surrounding areas to you. As I believe, you alone are capable of running it in my absence.
Don't get me wrong though... I fully plan to take back command when I return. So please, do me a favor and make sure things are maintained in my absence.... Hell, knowing you and your organizational skills, I bet things will be more prosperous than ever when I finally return.
I don't know when I will be back, and I have no idea if I will ever be able to earn all of your forgiveness when I do so. Nor can I imagine what difficulties you may face without me. But I want you to know that I did this because I had no other choice. So this is goodbye for now.
"I warned you didn't I? Before we walked right into a trap! I warned you that if we all went to that wretched place something bad was going to happen to us! And look at us now! Zane is gone! He has left because he now has a target on his back!
And it wouldn't be there if it weren't for the two of you!"
Olivia narrowed her eyes with fury in them towards Elena. Meanwhile, Angelica bowed her head and began to sob once more. It was obvious that she had blamed herself for Zane's disappearance.
If she had not convinced the man to walk into this trap out of a need to establish economic ties to Elysium. Then none of this would not have happened.
Elena wasn't saying anything that she had not already told herself a thousand times. But Olivia was not going to let this outburst go without a proper response and because of this she made a retort.
"I understand your anger, Elena. Hindsight is 20/20. But none of us knew what we were walking into. Not even Zane! To lay that blame on the two of us is incredibly unfair!"
Elena was so outraged by this comment that she instantly stood up and kicked down the stool she was sitting on. The woman quickly equipped her Katana and held it in a manner that suggest she was about to unleash Temporal Blade on Olivia.
If she chose to do so, she could have easily cut the woman in half, and with the furious look in her eyes, she may very well have done it. If not for the words that were spoken before, she could do so.
"Actually, he did...."
Three simple words were spoken. And were done so by an unknown voice that was so youthful, and innocent they no doubt belonged to a child. They were, of course followed by the audible crisp of a cheese puff being bitten into.
Nobody had even noticed that Maya was seated behind them all, watching the show while snacking on a bag of cheese puffs that had been stored in the bunker before the apocalypse broke out. But when she spoke all the women shifted their focus to her with astonished gazes.
They did not even register the words she had spoken, instead they were shocked that Maya could even talk. Causing Elena's sword to drop from her hand and clang onto the floor, as she, like the others turned around to look at the girl.
Where she continued to speak in a tone that was far too mature for a girl her age.
"Zane knew the risks involved when visiting Elysium. I did warn him after all that bitch was in cahoots with Lilith. But he still took the risk. Probably because he didn't expect Lilith to actually be bold enough to visit Elysium herself.
It was a fair assumption on his part. I mean... I may have purposely withheld the fact that Lilith was using Elysium to farm humans for their blood and meat. But even though he was ignorant of this fact, he still knew the risks, and he decided to go, anyway.
If you want to blame somebody for Zane abandoning you all, then you have nobody to blame but the man himself. He gambled with his life, and all of your lives, but in the end he lost...."
The only sound that could be heard following this statement was that of Maya eating her cheese puffs. As for the other women, it took them some time to understand that they weren't hallucinating, and that Maya was actually speaking to them. This revelation naturally opened up a treasure trove of questions, which they all had for her.