Save State Hero 2 -ch 9- (Patreon)

“There,” Dot proclaimed with a sharp nod of her head. The hallway leading into the stairwell was now walled off by stone.

A lot of stone.

As was the elevator bay.

Rather than clearing out the entire building, as Alina had, Dot had been of the opinion of securing the floor they were on. If they needed to go up or down a floor, they’d shift the stone.

“Everything on our floor is safe, all the exterior problems are sealed off, and we’re cozy and… secure,” she said, turning to look at him with a smile. “Any concerns?”

“Other than stone weighs a whole hell of a lot, no,” Edmund said with a shrug of his shoulders. “But if the stairwell collapses really isn’t any concern of ours. As you yourself said, there’s no reason to worry about too long a term since we’re not sticking around too long.”

“Oh… oh… yes. I suppose that’s a very good point. I’ll just… well… ah! I know,” Dot said and then looked back to the stone block she’d made. Her hands went out and several spells began flowing out of her.

Quickly attaching to the stone, going through it, and all around it.

Standing there, she looked rather pretty to Edmund.

For whatever reason, he found looking at her in profile made he extremely attractive.

Not to mention it actually emphasized she was somewhat gifted in her physique and body shape. Especially since she was just a normal human and not a Dryad or a Dragon.

That or he was just seeing her differently as of late.

Given how drastically his view had shifted after meeting dark Dot, he could believe the latter to be true quite easily. His world view had been shifting as of late and he wasn’t quite sure if it was helpful or detrimental.

“What?” Dot asked, giving him the side eye as spells continued to flow out of her hands. Runes appearing, disappearing, detonating.

“Nothing. Just admiring the view,” offered up Edmund with a grin and a shrug. He couldn’t quite keep himself from trying to flirt with or boosting up her ego.

“I… you… you’re so different all of a sudden,” Dot whispered, her face becoming a sheet of red.

“Yeah, I am. I met a very dark version of you. Very dark. A sad Dot that… really came across as an individual who had suffered,” Edmund confessed. He really didn’t want to sugar coat the truth with Dot. “You were just… so beat down. So broken. It’s hard to not look at you differently.

“You rose above all the problems in your past and became who you are. It’s easy to say ‘I’m a good person’, but harder to be one. Doubly so when you’ve had things thrown at you that would normally knock you off track.

“You, Dot… this version of you, this Dot standing in front of me, is a truly good person. Despite you going through some pretty rough stuff from what I’ve seen and heard. For me at least, from what I’ve seen.

“I’m appreciative of how good a person you are considering what I’ve seen can happen.”

Dot’s mouth turned into a pout and then went sideways into some type of Charlie Brown like grimace.

“Well… thank you, I suppose,” she said, took a short breath, then let it out in a huff. Her hands came down and the spell-work finished up. “I’ve reinforced all the structural parts of the building with stone as well. There shouldn’t be any way for the building to suffer a collapse.”

“Good job, Dot the builder. Because when we asked, can you build it, you said, yes we can,” Edmund proclaimed in a grand way with a nod of his head. “Now we just sit around, watch undead wander about, and wait for Oz to finish. Cause you’re not done yet, are you Oz?”

There was no response to his question.

Despite it being closer to an entire day, the sun had just set after all, Oz hadn’t returned. For whatever reason, his scan was taking significantly longer than he had expected.

It left Edmund feeling rather nervous.

What happens if Oz suffers some type of attack or injury? Will a dead or injured Oz be dragged across to another save-state with me?

“Well! I suppose we’ll just play house then,” Dot said with a bright smile, now fully turned toward him. “I’ll also see if I can’t peek at the magical work Claire has done on you, figure out if I can add or change anything, then see what else I can do to help.

“Because… well… I may not understand the world the way Claire does, but I don’t have to to piggy back off her own spell. Add maybe a few bits and bobs and the like.”

“Oh? Oh. Good point. I also have Ellie’s seed right here,” Edmund said and tapped at his chest. “It was modified by Felix to come with me on my trips. Between the seed and Claire’s work, maybe you’ll figure out a way to make this easier for me.”

“Ah. Yes. I’ll look into that,” Dot confirmed and then gestured back toward the apartment. “Come, come. I’ll start looking about and you can just take it easy.

“Maybe tell me more about what you’ve been doing. That’d be helpful to give me an idea of what exactly you’re using your power for and how it works.”

“Fair, fair. Yeah. Alright,” allowed Edmund and headed back to the apartment. It was a valid idea and he didn’t see a reason to fight it.

That and they didn’t have much else to do until Oz was done.

However long that’d be.

“Do you think we should start hoarding everything from the other apartments?” Dot asked. “I think we might end up on this plane either for a long time, or no time at all.

“Given that we don’t have anything else to do, why not be industrious about it? Start moving non-perishables over.

“Somewhat of a shame that the power went out so long ago. I don’t even want to consider opening up any of those fridges. I can only imagine the stink of them.”

Edmund grimaced at a memory of having done just that.

Opening a fridge that’d felt cold for some reason only to discover a whole bunch of rotting food. Filled to the brim with maggots, flies, and a stench so strong that Edmund had immediately thrown up.

Adding to the mess right then and there without any ability to control it.

“Yeah, no. Let’s not open the fridges,” he agreed quickly. “Getting the non-perishables isn’t a bad idea either. Though hey, you have a means of making fire and water for us out of nothing, right?”

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“Great. Then we can at least have baths. That’ll be nice. If we manage to find and catch anything edible we can cook it and toss the bits off the edge to whoever’s down below, too.”

“Ah, yes. That’s a very good point. Camping was a lot of fun and given magical abilities, it was never as hard as one thought it would be.

“A small stone shack, firepit, fresh water, and light whenever you need it. Camping is a lot of fun when you can more or less go anywhere and enjoy it.”

“Ha, yeah, that’s actually pretty cool now that I think about it. I don’t have any ability to use magic, do I?” Edmund asked, suddenly hopeful. He hadn’t actually had someone nearby who could use magic as freely as Dot could.

Most magic he knew of was racially conjured or faith based.

“Ah… no. I’m sorry, Eddy. You don’t have a lick of talent for magic in you,” Dot said with a sad smile. “It’s rare in worlds like yours for people to have magic. It’s just not there in any great quantity. Where there’s a great deal of mana, there’s a great chance that people will be magically inclined.

“Oh, there’s this one spot we went camping at that had a lot of mana. So much mana that it was practically hard to breathe there.

“Ryker made the joke that if someone had a kid there, they’d end up coming out an arch-mage whether they liked it or not.

“It was on my home world. Uncle Rob, Ryker, and I all went on a camping trip to see it. It’s in the far west, you know.

“All the way to the west that it’s actually the tip of the continent! I had wanted to see it for a while and it’d come up in conversation so— ”

***

“— then she just got all bitchy at me,” Dot said and made a fluttering motion with both hands. Telling him yet another story from her life. Dot had become quite the story-teller at this point. “I’m a stupid sexy, hot, vampiric angel, derrrrh, I’m allowed to make mistakes and be dumb but you can’t call me out on it.”

“I mean, it’s her age,” Edmund countered while laughing. “She’s a lot older than her looks.”

“I mean, so am I,” Dot countered, pointing at him. “How old do you think I am?”

“I dunno. You look like the hot college chick who’s in her second year and exploring all her options. Including other women. So like… twenty?”

“Mm, why thank you!” Dot said with a choked off laugh. She glanced to the side, whipped her finger around, and slashed a gargoyle in half with a blast of air. “Ahhh… I suppose you’re somewhat right but mostly wrong. I spent a number of years in a plane of existence that wasn’t actually physical.

“A lot of magical training. Enough that realistically speaking I lost count after spending four decades there.

“It was the middle of nowhere, literally and figuratively, which left me without any extra experiences. Just… training. Training and magic.

“Alina definitely does have more experiences if you look at it like that, I suppose. Eh… yeah, you’re right.

“I talked myself out of my own point I think.”

“Hey, you’re smart enough to know that you could be wrong. A lot of people have so much pride, so much ego, that they won’t listen to other people. Or even consider they’re wrong.”

“In the span of ten minutes you’ve called me attractive and now intelligent. Eddy, you’re laying it on thick today,” Dot murmured, her eyes moving back to him. They had often spent hours on the patio like this, watching everything going on in the city. Dot was their defense and offense, knocking anything out of the sky that came anywhere near them. “I know we’ve been locked up with one another for a week, but come on. You’re not that bent are you?”

Errr… maybe I am.

I’ve kinda been picking up the flirting with her like I used to do with Alina.

It’s because I’m back here in this place and my mind is going right back there.

“It was clearly the tank-top and short-shorts,” Edmund offered in a absolutely convinced tone. He said it while nodding his head and looking at the city below.

“Hey, you normally sleep in and I couldn’t hold it anymore. That’s not my fault. It’s my sleepwear and—”

“Oh, oh!” Edmund said eagerly, interrupting her. He was pointing at a flying demon moving through the sky. “Look, look, it’s the super titty demon I saw the other day. I told you.”

Moving along through the sky was just about the most overly sexualized woman Edmund had ever seen in his life. More so than any Dryad, Dragon, or even Gaia.

She looked entirely normal other than the large pair of leathery bat wings that extended from her back. Flapping away as she slid through the horizon.

There was also an extreme aura being thrown out by her that was most certainly not natural. He could feel a strange attraction to her that made him want to take a leap off the balcony and go to her.

“Ooookay, yeah. I see what you meant now. Sorry for not believing you. I can feel her draw even from here.

“I think that’s the extent we’d ever feel it. My wards react different to distance as well as power. If the distance is short, it increases it’s out put. If the power being pushed to or through the ward goes up, it goes up as well.”

“Yeah, your variable stuff is neat. Feels almost modular.”

“It is. I went and combined the work Ryker does with Shirley, as well as well what little I could glean from Claire. I’m not as talented as someone like Bianca, but I’m quite dedicated to my training.

“But all that lets me remove and insert various pieces as I need them. I can change the core of a spell pretty quickly with something else.”

“I’d take versatility over many things any day of the week.”

Edmund and Dot both fell silent. Watching the sex demon wing it’s way across the sky.

Minutes slipped by.

“Kinda annoying we can’t just go back,” Dot whispered. “Though I’m glad Oz is okay. Wasn’t expecting him to shout at us the moment I opened a portal.”

Nodding his head, Edmund agreed wholehearted with her. It’d been somewhat of a shock.

“Yes, I didn’t enjoy doing that,” Oz said. “I’m glad you listened though. The portal was creating more interference and I didn’t want to take longer than I already had.”

“Oz! Are you all done?” Edmund asked, grinning.

“Yes. I have completed my task. It was much harder than I expected, though I do have results. Positive ones, yet also negative ones,” answered Oz. “Andrea was indeed here. In fact, as suspected, this is her plane of origin. Her soul was birthed here.

“It’s unsurprising that given the chance, it returned here when forcibly ejected. This is likely the place it is most comfortable.”

“Oh? Oh. I suppose that makes sense. Do souls differ from the plane they’re birthed on?” Edmund mused. “I suppose that lines up with what Ryker said, too.

“He had me go through all those planes and universes to forcibly change me. What else would have changed, if not my soul?”

“Yes, though unlike Andrea, your change was permanent,” Oz continued. “Her soul wandered through this plane for a time, then left. I don’t know where it left to, or how long it was here.”

“It left? I thought you said you couldn’t discern if a soul had been somewhere,” challenged Dot and rightfully so. Edmund had the exact same thought as her she’d just beaten him to saying it.

“Normally I wouldn’t be able to. However this plane is different,” said Oz. To Edmund it sounded like he was leaving a number of things unsaid. He wanted to pry, but he had a sudden feeling it wouldn’t do him any good to get the answers. “Given all the apocalyptic problems with this plane, her soul showed up easily.”

“Uh… is that because people lose their souls if they die here? Is it like that one plane that even if Ryker or Runner died in it, that’d be the end of them?” Edmund asked. “There was even a plane where if Runner died, he would be dead in every save-state.”

“Similar to that. Yes. Andrea’s soul shows up in it’s interactions with this world, rather than it’s appearance itself,” concluded Oz. “It was here however, but it has departed. To where I’m not sure. Nor has it returned.

“Additionally… I do not think reverting the save-state would bring her soul back to this location. At this time I believe her soul has become adrift and no longer obeys your power.

“Similar to the seed you carry and the spell Claire has put upon you. As to the why, I have no idea at all. I couldn’t even tell you if Andrea’s soul still exists or if it’s faded from reality.”

“That’s a thing?” Dot demanded in a nervous voice. “Your soul just… not existing?”

“There are creatures and individuals that feed on souls. In most situations, it is irrelevant,” explained Oz. “The soul is just returned if Edmund performs a save-state recall. Given that she is not beholden to Edmund, it is therefore simple to assume her soul is on ‘hardcore mode’ as you once called it Edmund.”

“Great,” Edmund growled out. “Alright. If I can’t revert the save-state to catch her here, and it doesn’t matter if I move forward or backward, how do we figure out where she went?

“Is there a tool? A spell? Some apocalypse nightmare we can subdue and force it to run Andie’s soul down?”

“Yes,” Oz deadpanned.

Sitting there next to Dot, Edmund waited.

Finally he nodded his head, remembering what Oz could be like at times.

“Oz, could you please tell me what our options are for running Andie’s soul down?” asked Edmund.

“Preferably non-destructive means,” Dot interjected helpfully. “Edmund’s already got enough problems. Possibly damaging Andrea or himself isn’t a good trade-off.”

“There are several possibilities,” Oz started. “The first is capturing a grim reaper. They function in a similar fashion to the tenders Runner uses on his own worlds.

“There are many operating in this plane and almost always one is nearby as death can occur at any time here.

“The second, and the one I recommend, is to seek out a particular Shaman. He lives on the other side of the planet but is also experiencing similar end-of-the-world events there, as there are here. I imagine he would be more than willing to help if you were to offer his village assistance.

“The third option would be to intentionally keep someone on the brink of death and let them go in search of Andrea. I do not personally think this option is viable, but it is still an option.

“Last, would be to acquire a relic that would allow one to pursue a soul or track one. These are numerous and scattered throughout the world, and all have varying power levels. This clearly has multiple outcomes and would need considerably more conversation to determine what is best, if this choice I made.”

“Maybe finding that grim reaper would work out,” Edmund mused and turned to look at Dot again.

“I’m not so sure. I feel like that could end up going either way,” countered Dot. “They have the power to shepard people through into the afterlife. Getting into contact with one would end up putting us at their mercy wouldn’t it?”

“The nearest grim reaper is only a half mile away. She is stubborn once a choice is made, but can be bargained with,” Oz provided helpfully. “However, she also does not respond well to things that are outside of her expectations and has been known to lash out immediately.”

“Right. We’ll take the shaman,” answered Dot before Edmund could even consider it. “I imagine we’ll need something with a connection to Andrea for him to use. Something that would have a great deal of meaning to her and was part of her while she lived. Like a hairbrush. Ahh… a wedding ring. Things of that nature.”

Blinking slowly, Edmund had a singular, and extremely stupid, thought pop into his head.

“Yeah… yeah. I can certainly think of something that’d resonate with her soul alright,” Edmund mumbled. “Something that even now I can honestly say I couldn’t write off as being less important than Felix Campbell.”

“Really?” Dot asked, watching him closely.

“Yeah,” Edmund confirmed. He took in a breath, held it, then let it out in a short chuckle.

“Pancakes. We just need to make a lot of pancakes, from her favorite mix.”