[TLQ-B2] 10. You're Not Alone (Patreon)

X

You’re Not Alone

After lunch, the Children assigned to clean-up duty washed the dishes and emptied the tables. I was one of the assignees and would’ve been doing exactly that if it wasn’t for Titan.

Want me to take over for you? I don’t have anything to do anyway. Such were his flustered words to me.

Call me a bad person, but I took him up on his offer. How could the Silent Empress of Necron, Frost Warden of the North, busy herself with washing dishes? I had better things to do.

…

That’s how I convinced myself of my righteousness.

That said, I did use the time he freed up for me. Plenty of the Children had stayed behind to have idle conversation with each other. I mingled.

Kreed, it turned out, was situated on an island. If one travelled beyond the furthest edge of the woods, they’d see a vast ocean spreading in all directions. So a boy named Wave told me.

“It’s a shame Father doesn’t let anyone else visit the sea.”

Wave had hair falling to his butt and rubbery hide. There were gills in his neck as well.

‘Everyone’s different.’

Their mastery of their domain reflected in their physical appearance. In that regard, my own visage was quite basic. Wasn’t I supposed to be part of the domain of death? All I had to show for it was pale skin.

I talked some more with Wave, who offered to bring me to the sea one time if Father allowed. I agreed without much thought since I wouldn’t be around by the time that mattered.

After Wave, I sparked conversation with a girl going by the name ‘Velyn’. She, too, was not wholly what I would call human. She had claws for hands and whiskers that twitched whenever she spoke. Her speech was quite impaired. She was more comfortable around animals, apparently, since she spent most of her time up a nearby mountain.

To be honest, I didn’t gleam anything useful from our conversation.

I let go of a sigh as Velyn pounced away from the table and announced she was leaving.

‘Who next?’

I should pick someone who appeared interesting to talk to. The most interesting Children of all, however, we’re already conversing. Two elf twins were speaking with a girl that had curving horns like that of a demon. Grimjow, the burly boy wearing a half robe, laughed at something one of his companions said. His laugh was loud enough the tables trembled. Titan was of course doing my dishes. That left—

“Do you have a moment?”

I turned around. Ruelle’s halo wasn’t that blinding up close.

‘She must be suppressing it.’

The fact her control of Light was great enough to reduce it to a level where it didn’t scald me in the slightest was impressive.

“How can I help you?” I said.

She glanced around the table and caught the discreet stares of her fellows. “In private if you can.”

I hummed. ‘Can I?’

Ruelle was definitely someone that could give me a lot of information about this place. But she could also be the person to detect my infiltration and end my exploration prematurely.

I wasn’t sure if dying in this realm meant my mission of raising the corpses would fail. Neither did I know if I would get another attempt at doing so. Therefore, it was quite important that I be careful.

Still, Ruelle who too tasty an opportunity to pass up.

Patting my dress clean, I rose from my seat. “Where did you have in mind?”

The place was, of course, a temple. Though not one of the House of Light.

A tree dominated in the centre of the stone chamber. Sunlight poured from holes carved into the ceiling in such a manner one of them was always depositing light at a right angle to the tree.

Birds chirped and glided from their perch (thick wooden sticks buried into the walls) into the leafage. When the echo of their beating wings vanished, the room was silent.

Peaceful.

“Allay’s home,” Ruelle said. “She takes good care of it.” She took a seat on one of the pews spread throughout and patted the seat beside her.

“It’s a nice place.“ I sat down as well and tilted my head at Ruelle. “You know, I can’t figure out what you would want to say to me that requires such privacy.”

As far as I knew, this was one of the few times the two of us had spoken at all. Outside of emergencies, Ruelle and I didn’t deal with each other, let alone converse.

“I can imagine. You don’t pay attention to anything besides those corpses of yours. If one of us died, I doubt you’d notice on the same day.”

“That’s not true,” I waved her away. “Because then they’d be a corpse.” I attached a smile to my face that she shook her head at.

Heartbeats passed without her responding, so the peaceful quiet of the temple took over once again.

I spoke up before the silence could settle. “Why’d you call me here, Ruelle?”

She inhaled deeply and opened her mouth. Before speaking, she turned away and surveyed the Temple like it was her first time seeing it. Her chest expanded with another large breath, then she asked: “What’s your plan with Titan?”

I blinked. “My plan?”

A nod was my answer. However, that didn’t bring me close to an answer of my own at all.

“Gosh!” She rubbed her hands through her hair. “Why are you such a dunce when it comes to things like this? I’m asking if you have any plans of reciprocating his feelings!”

‘Ah. That’s what this was about.’

It was to be expected, I supposed. Titan was not a bad looking guy. He was kind, too, so others would like him. Even I found myself taken in by his antics, though that had its reasons.

I let a few heartbeats pass so the echoes of her shout faded. “I have no intention of telling you.”

Her face went slack. “Are you being serious?”

“Deadly so.”

“You—” she sucked in big breath and tried to calm herself. Her lips pressed together. Then she lost the battle and whirled on me, jamming her finger in my face. “You emotionless, no-sympathy-having asshole! You’re as cold as the corpses you deal with! And you goddamn stink!”

On reflex, I sniffed my dress. I barely noticed nowadays, but the stench of corpses had a way of clinging to you if you spent too much time around them.

“That’s a lie,” I complained. “Aren’t you supposed to be honest all the time?”

“Subjective truth.” She crossed her arms. “You stink to me.”

Well, guess I couldn’t say that wasn’t true. Her entire existence was an affront to me, too.

I regarded the adolescent lady, whose cheeks had turned red. Steam rose from her face. Her shoulders heaved.

A sigh escaped me. “Does it matter what I’m planning?”

Her heaving paused. “Pardon?”

“Love is a war,” I said. “Whether I’m planning on reciprocating his feelings or not, you just have to confess to him first and steal him from me.”

The birds chirped and Ruelle was silent.

“I…I suppose? But I don’t want to create any bad blood between us. We’re already opposed enough as it is.”

I placed my hand on her shoulder—

And drew away in an instant. I hissed at the burn biting my skin. Damned light users!

Ruelle grimaced. “Sorry. I can’t turn it off yet.”

“Don’t mind it. My mistake.”

If she couldn’t turn it off, it must be a spell that was active all the time. If it was, then it was one of the most efficient skills I’d seen to date. There was no motion or leakage of mana around her. Not that I expected anything less from the person who’d become the object of worship of an entire faith. Seriously, what’d happened to her?

“You don’t have to worry about that.” I rubbed my hands as I spoke. “Whatever happens, I’ll accept the outcome.”

“No hard feelings?” she asked.

“None.”

She kept my gaze as my words fizzled out. “Alright. But don’t come complaining to me later!”

I waved her away. “Would that be all?”

She nodded, so I made to exit the temple. Before I exited, however, I turned around. “Say…”

She hummed and looked back at me.

My gaze narrowed on her spiritual presence. Her energy was dense. Solid. Her current level would’ve been the result of countless hours of disciplined and effective practise. She must’ve started when she was a wee child.

I went out on a limb. “How’s your progress coming along, think you’ll break through the Sealed stage soon?”

“In another decade, probably. Father told me to give my core time to adapt. Says there’s no rush to advance, so I should take it easy. What about you? You’re not looking to shabby yourself, though I hear you cannot tap into your element yet.”

“I’m taking it easy as well,” I smiled. “No rush at all.”

I let our conversation end there, traded goodbyes, and turned to walk out the temple. As I did, the smile plastered to my face retracted. She knew about the stages. Not only that but—from her tone—she was practically guaranteed to breakthrough the Sealed stage, which was the toughest stage to advance from.

‘Did she become a god through cultivating?’

No. Wait.

I glanced over my shoulder. She was still seated on the pew. In her hands was a tome she’d pulled a tome out of thin air, whose whose cover was traced by golden lines.

‘Identify,’ I thought.

[Child of Light - ?]

My eyes widened.

Ruelle looked up from her book and frowned. “Identifying others without their permission is rude, Illya.”

“My apologies.“ I lowered my head. “I couldn’t help myself.”

She huffed and continued reading.

I strode out of the temple.

During my stay in the Duchy, I’d identified everyone I came across. The only things it worked on were my own creations. Not even on Leah, as talented a mage as she was, nor on Cebas, who was powerful enough to challenge me, had it worked. That’d lead me to believe I was the only person on the planet who had access to a ‘game system’, as Lucian had told me of.

That assumption was wrong.

Not only were there others that could use the system, there were people with cores. A whole swathe of them—talented children living in a world that existed who knew how far into our past.

I stopped outside the temple doors and came to stand at the top of a hill. From here, a range of trees spread towards the small square, where I could still see some of the Children conversing.

My breath quickened. This ancient paradise, what had happened to it?

And where were its inhabitants?