81 - Book 2: Chapter 18: Worries, and a Plan of Action

81 - Book 2: Chapter 18: Worries, and a Plan of Action

"It still doesn't make complete sense." Misa frowned. "Everyone here's had a completely different history. They don't even know what dungeons are. They don't know what the system is."

"It's not a perfect theory," Vex agreed. "It's definitely incomplete. But I think it's somewhere close. It explains why people in both places have the same names, kind of. It just doesn't explain who's stealing the mana crystals, or what exactly the link between the two places are."

"But if this place is real..." Misa muttered, then she shook her head.

"What if it is not the place that is real, but the people?" Derivan asked. "Or what if realness, as it were, is a property that can be transferred?"

"That's fucking terrifying to think about," Misa said.

"But it might be true," Vex said softly. "There's even hints about it. Food didn't seem to fill Noram until we were around. The problem is just... we don't have a real way to test any of this. We've come up with a few theories that explain what's happening, but that doesn't give us a solution."

"Okay," Sev said. "We need a way to test our theories, then."

"My mom's still back in Fendal with the two guards I summoned," Misa said. "We could ask them to keep track of things there while we investigate what's going on here. Noram's there, too, so he can confirm if he knows anything about this... other version of Noram."

"About the food," Derivan said. "Why did food only fill him when we were around? We do not possess some quality that makes things more real."

"Misa does," Sev said. Everyone else looked at him and blinked.

"That's... true," Misa said slowly. "You think the reality anchor is affecting things right now?"

"You can check," Sev said. "How's the integrity on it?"

Misa frowned and seemed to gaze into the air for a moment. Then she froze slightly, mouthing some words to herself; she shook her head.

"...Five months, three days left." Misa wasn't angry, exactly, or she didn't seem that way to Vex but part of her seemed to deflate. "The degradation rate still says medium, but it's definitely lost a couple days more than it should have, and there's another warning about additional stress being put on the anchor. Fuck. I should've checked this earlier."nove(l)bi(n.)com

"Is it possible it's just because your mom's still summoned?" Vex asked. "When did you last check it?"

"I've checked the anchor notification before during a summon and there wasn't any notice about an extra drain," Misa said, shaking her head. She scowled a bit. "And I looked at it before we got into Fendal. Wish the damn thing would give me more notifications."

"We know now, at least," Derivan said, angling his tone towards comfort. "Though we do not know if this began in Fendal, or... here."

"It's a start," Sev said, and then he frowned. "We never asked what this place is called, huh? We'll have to ask next time we head out."

"No need," Misa said dryly. "I asked while I was downstairs. This whole place is just called Teque; it's a dedication to the guy who led them down here, or something."

Vex grabbed a notebook and scribbled a note; when Derivan peered over at him, he promptly hid the notebook from his friend, sticking his tongue out at him in the process.

Sev, meanwhile, just blinked and said, "Huh."

"It's not that surprising that I asked questions about this place." Misa scowled, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hey, Sev?" Vex asked.

They'd pretty much all gotten ready for the night Derivan was off by himself near the center of the room, apparently experimenting with small-scale attempts at magic without going through the system, or something like that. Misa was far away at the opposite side of the room, and Vex had approached Sev while he was sitting at the side of his bed, apparently engaged in his nightly commune.

From what he'd heard, Sev treated it more like a divine pen pal sort of situation, for all that he no longer got replies from Onyx.

"What's up?" Sev smiled at him. "Need something?"

"Kind of," Vex admitted. He took a breath he felt nervous, and he didn't even know why. It wasn't like he was actually talking to Derivan about this. But he felt like he needed to talk to someone before he just went up to Derivan. "I just wanted to talk. Um. Ask for some advice, as it were."

"I'm all ears," Sev said, putting his focus to the side and looking attentively at Vex. The lizardkin wizard flushed, not quite sure how to begin; he sat himself down next to Sev when the cleric patted his bed in invitation, and tried to gather his thoughts.

"I really like Derivan," the lizardkin blurted in a whisper after a moment, and then he glanced quickly to the side to see if the armor in question had heard him; Derivan was still seated in the center of the room, mana carefully dancing between his fingertips.

"I know that," Sev said, vaguely amused. "And you know I know that. Misa knows that, too."

"I that's besides the point." Vex buried his face in his hands. "It's just what do I do about it?"

"Talk to him about it?" Sev suggested mildly.

"I was going to," Vex said, because not all that long ago he was, and now he found himself doubting himself again. The lizardkin sighed and drew his legs up to himself. "But I dunno. I'm worried about messing things up. We're a good team."

"We're not going to be less of a good team if you two get together," Sev said, and then considered his statement a bit. "Maybe if you fight. The Guild doesn't really encourage this for that reason. But fighting together, facing dangers together... It's pretty inevitable that it happens from time to time."

"Has it happened to you?" Vex asked. Sev laughed.

"No," he said. "Honestly, I'm probably not the best person to give you advice here. I've never really liked anyone that way."

"Really?"

"Nope," Sev shrugged. "But I'm pretty happy. I have you guys, and... that's enough for me, I think. I just want to help people, figure out what's going on with the system, and not deal with weird evolutionary branches like mimics that pretend to be trees and walk around every so often."

Vex snickered. He was feeling a little better about talking to Derivan, at least. "Are you still thinking about that?"

"It's a weird fucking tree," Sev complained. "It'd be weirder if I wasn't. But don't change the subject. Are you going to tell Deri, or am I?"

"...You wouldn't."

"I would not," Sev said, and grinned, poking Vex in the snout. "But you should've seen your face."

Vex sighed, but he found he was smiling, just a bit. "I will," he said. "I want to wait for the right time, but... yeah, I will."

"Don't want too long. Or do, and then I get to win the bet that Derivan confesses first."

"Your bet" Vex started, and then sighed, as though entirely unsurprised. "Before we reach Elyra," he promised instead.