Weapons of Mass Destruction

A few hours later we enter one of the bigger tunnels after the Witch punches a hole through one of the walls revealing it, and allowing us to sidestep the cave-in. The resulting hole is about the width of a football stadium, and I watch intently as she works, Mais quietly keeping pace behind her.

She stops in front of the wall and taps on it with a finger, sending ripples through the stone. The affected rock almost seems to melt, behaving like water as it bends to her will. It moves to the sides, it swirls, it compresses all around her, all while she calmly advances like some unstoppable force, the stone clearing a path for her under the influence of the mana from her crown.

Once she’s done, she steps aside, and the quasi-leader rushes in with a few more guys to run checks.

“As promised, we’ve reached one of the smaller mining outposts, and this one isn't on any maps, nor has it been visited before,” he shouts, his words quickly spreading. Yet everyone waits, and no one rushes in.

Only after everyone’s finally passed through does the Witch close the hole.

The man continues, “Three hours. Rest, eat, look around and loot. But let me give you a warning! If you want to fight amongst yourselves, that’s fine, but if you take things too far, you will be dealt with. Go!”

His words have barely left his mouth by the time everyone disperses throughout the massive cave, their skills lighting up the area as their overlapping scans trace every inch of ground.

There are a few dozen small buildings off to the side: smithies, piles of rock, old broken crates full of refined metals and crystals. More seems to be hidden in the houses and other places. This is what most of these people are here for. Just a few handfuls of the right metal has every potential to make one very rich on the surface.

(Nat, please recharge the creepy box; me and Aaron will do some looting.) Dennis states, handing me the small box densely inscribed and plated in voidcopper. After that, he and his brother disappear, more excited over the experience itself than any items they might find.

That leaves Biscuit, Lily, and me off to the side, with Mais, the Witch, and a few others waiting on the opposite side of the cavern.

As I sit on the ground, Biscuit moves closer and lays his head on my leg while Lily takes my other side.

(It needs recharging already?) she asks.

(It seems so.) I quickly check the inscriptions on the box, and all seems to be fine. (Can you check inside?)

Lily takes it from me, carefully opening it and checking the bone she grew from her own finger and the grape-sized gray orb it contains.

(The bone is already slightly worn down. I really need to work harder to keep it stronger, even when it’s separated from me.) As she says this, she uses her healing skill, adjusts the gray orb slightly, and then closes it.

(It’s fine. Items like these are just for fun and experimenting.) I slide one of the panels a bit, revealing the mana stone inside, and touch it to charge it with my mana, topping off its flagging supply of mana.

Without it, to power the container, the shielding and inscriptions on the bones inside would fail.

(But we spent so much time on that box,) Lily complains.

(Yeah, and you've learned a lot from it, just like I have.) I say, staring at the box in my hands. (But at the same time, it can be discarded and made anew.)

As I store it away, Lily glances at the sword on my waist. (Even the sword? If you’d like, I can take a look, just to see how it’s holding up.)

I glance at the sword and touch the hilt. (No need; it seems fine for now. My main goal in having the four of us work on the sword was to evolve my skills. I even partially succeeded, but otherwise, the sword is a failure. A few months, maybe a year? It won’t last beyond that. Until then, I'll learn as much from it as I can.)

(That seems like a kinda sad way of thinking. It’s something all of us made with a lot of effort. Of course, you did most of the work, but you know what I mean. It would be nice to have it as a reminder.)

It’s amusing to watch her try to avoid getting tangled in the conversation, and I say, (I value these memories and knowledge more. Given the dangerous nature of our current expedition, I might be jinxing it, but we’ve already created a few items together—so there’s nothing stopping us from making many more in the future.)

A slow smile spreads across her face. (I loved working on that sword too, but yes, if you keep jinxing us like that, we might all end up dead.)

About three hours pass and the twins return. Their clothes aren’t damaged, and they look clean, but I can feel that they’ve been in a fight. It’s like when you use the engine for a while and turn it off—it still radiates some heat. That’s what I feel coming from their bodies right now.

(We managed to get a few bits of voidcopper and voidsteel. Aaron picked up some weird-ass crystals. People seemed happy, but I don’t think it’s anything special. Do you think we’re getting spoiled? Are you our sugar daddy, Nat?)

(Please never say those words again.)

(Did saying that increase the difficulty of our future training?) he asks.

(Yes.)

(Screw you.)

(If you really want to complain, get stronger and beat me up.)

(You know, Nat, after these months together I can really see why the system offered you Patience, Greed, and Pride. You can be surprisingly chill when someone bothers you, patient, even. Savant would be proud.)

(Yo, don’t push our luck.) Aaron snaps, nudging him a bit too firmly as he hands me some mana crystals he found.

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All of them are epic rarity, but they’re a kind I haven’t seen yet, so after a quick examination, I pocket them.

Neither of the twins complain or asks for anything in exchange. They never do, but owing them would feel weird, even though they claim that my training is payment enough.

So I make equipment for them every once in a while.

(Recharged,) I say, handing the box to Dennis. (Don’t lose it.)

(I love how he says it every time,) Dennis sighs, looking at his brother.

(Should I remind you how many shards I could get for the value of the materials in that box?) I ask him.

(Please don’t. I will cry. Also, Aaron and I have noticed something really fun. I’m sure you’ll like it, want to hear it?)

(Tell me.)

I then feel multiple checks of the links between us, as the twins focus on strengthening them so no one can listen in. With growing curiosity, I do some checks of my own, and for a moment deploy the array structure stored in the back of my mind, creating a field around us.

With a big smile, Dennis says, (The Witch is connected to someone deep below us, likely so that she can communicate with them. And we’re heading in their direction.)

The little jerk knows me all too well. A couple of ideas immediately form in my head as I start coming up with reasons, ideas, and countermeasures. The tips of my fingers tingle, and the background noises fade away as a new mystery takes over my mind.

With it comes a bit of annoyance that I had not noticed that connection. Sure, the twins have a skill called [Connection] and they’ve spent more time training it than I have with my [Perception], rather I’ve been focusing on my other skills. There will always be people better at certain things, at their specialties, than I am, but…

(Are you thinking what we’re thinking?) Aaron asks. He says "we," but knowing the brothers, Aaron’s the more thoughtful of the two, and he probably came up with the idea before Dennis.

I agree with a nod, (It seems like her goal isn't much different from ours.)

POV Sophie Martinez

I pass through a gate that closes behind me, the guards redeploying the defensive array after greeting me. Gesturing in acknowledgment, I keep my mask on and walk the tree-framed pathway leading to the tower made of white stone.

As I walk, I do checks of the array around me, deploying my own locks on top of the guards'.

I stop in front of the door and close my eyes, doing checks of my mind, looking for any signs of foreign mana, mind parasites, influence, trackers, all of it. Lastly, I deploy a cleansing structure, and only then do I pass through the door that I open for myself.

Another set of guards greets me, these ones with a deep bow.

My assistant Mila hurries over. 'We’ve received messages from the Archon and the Circle. The Archon requests your presence at a gala dinner in a few days to celebrate a new addition to the Circle—it's Orik, just as you predicted.

"Please confirm my attendance. Now what’s the message from the Circle?"

“The monthly maintenance of the Framework is coming up, and this time you’ve been invited to participate!’ Her eyes sparkle with excitement. “No one as young as you has ever been invited before!”

“How did Beatrice react?”

"I…" Mila hesitates. "She wasn’t too happy, so I assigned more guards to your sister and ran background checks on them."

“Good. Check the arrays as well and do it yourself—use the structure we practiced a few days ago.”

“As you command. Shall I have dinner ready in an hour?”

“Yes,” I say, continuing on my way, as Mila turns to head down a different pathway.

There are no elevators, I had them removed, so when I reach the spiraling stairway piercing through the middle of the tower, it takes me a few minutes of walking to reach my floor. I feel the barrier deploy, and multiple checks press against me as I pass through.

Finally, at the top, I stop by the window and look out over the city where I’ve been spending the past few months.

It’s not very big, nestled against the bank of the nearby lake, but nearly every building is a tower. The city forms an almost perfect circle, every stone structure placed with intent. Everything about the buildings is carefully calculated: their height, width, materials, and density, right down to the number of windows.

Cobbled streets weave paths between the towers, bordered by metal frames. At the center of the city stands a short, perfectly circular building with a roof constructed from mana-conductive metals, linking it to the rest of the city.

With a sigh, I turn away and once again go through all the checks, and only when that’s been done do I knock on the door. A skill reaches out from within and connects to my emotions, and another one pulls a wisp of my mana, testing it. Only then do the doors open, allowing me to slip inside before closing them behind me.

The expression I’ve kept on my face until now crumbles, and I allow myself to relax.

“Fuck, I hate this place.”

“Language!” Shouts a voice that brings a smile to my face.

“I’m the older sister here, so I can do whatever I damn well want.” I throw my robe aside and rub my shoulder. “How have you been?”

Moving through the hallway, the big, cozy room opens up—so warm and welcoming it feels like I could relax just by collapsing onto the floor.

Izzy sits in the corner, her head resting against Noodle, whose body is currently thicker than hers and probably about as long as six of my little sisters lined up end to end.

Using her as a scale cheers me up, and I throw myself down next to her, hugging her small body which is warm as ever. Both Izzy and Noodle are staring at a book that Izzy has lying open in front of them, and their eyes move in perfect sync as Izzy reads, mouthing out the words.

That feeling of connecting to me reaches out again, and I don’t block it, not even for a second, and let Izzy read my feelings like an open book.

Sensing what I want, she acts annoyed and shakes her head, but with a sigh, she taps the top of my head.

“Is it about time to leave?” she asks.

“Yes. I finally got access to the Framework and I’ll be near the Archon in a few days. If everything goes well, we’ll be done here within a few weeks.”

“Soph…”

“Yes, Izzy?”

"I want you to be careful and call the others to help." For the first time I can remember, Izzy looks serious going so far as to her book away. "Can you do that for me?"

“I…”

“Soph,” Izzy says quietly, and this time her feelings rush into me, and in much the same way she felt mine, I feel hers.

The hesitation, hope, worry—the fact she hasn’t asked me that, not even once since we separated from the group. She’s been waiting this entire time for the perfect opportunity, for my feelings of anger to weaken. I can sense that, but I can also feel why she did, along with all the feelings of loneliness and fear.

There is no way I can say no after feeling her heart.

"Okay, we’ll call them and ask for help before I go all out. Yes, even Tess." I concede, feeling defeated, but as she hugs me with a big smile, despite feeling like a loser for being the first to forgive, I also feel good.

“Love you, Soph.”

“I love you too, Izzy.”

“And I like Noodle and Blackie as well!” She declares and rests against Noodle once again, who flicks her nose with his tongue, making her giggle.

My shadow perks up at the announcement as well. Confused, incapable of feeling things like love, and lacking the capacity to understand them.

The last surviving fragment of a bond without its master, now resting in my shadow.