Chapter 305

  Drinking The Kool-Aid

  (Valeria)

  Badump, badump, badump.

  Magic.

  Pure, heart pumping magic could be felt.

  Magic so thick and vibrant that it almost seemed to suck the very air from your lungs while in the same room.

  She had heard rumors. Read the Legrand scouting reports on her.

  Which was odd, as the Legrand Empire that prided itself on its information gathering capabilities was sorely lacking.

  They did know of all of the most powerful entities of the Midnight Hunters. They had scouting reports, and even complete guild structure layouts of everything that went on at World’s End.

  Yet they had lost.

  Or from all appearances it seems that her side had lost.

  Originally, she joined as an Apprentice to the Doctor, for she wanted to survive this whole ordeal. Only afterwards did she realize that everyone not named Valeria Spray-Healer was set free.

  With one simple oath, anyone who had raised arms against the Midnight Hunters would be set free.

  As if words were somehow binding.

  For a time, Valeria assumed that the second wave of attacks would start any time.

  For what were Legrand Soldiers known for, if not betraying their words.

  Yet, the more she waited, the more the second stage of attacks never came. The more she began to doubt.

  At first, on that first day, an Armistice was posed.

  While Valeria was not apprised of the full conditions, it was known that the primary condition, the condition of getting those murder bots to stop their attacks was impossible. Particularly as Dr. Spiritlight was nowhere to be found.

  With the Doctor dead, or presumed dead, the Armistice was cancelled.

  After that Valeria assumed the battles would commence again at any time.

  Yet, they hadn’t.

  For a time, Valeria was almost convinced that Dr. Spiritlight was dead.

  At first others were reluctant to agree, but then slowly saw signs.

  “The fields aren’t dead,” a few commented.

  That was enough to let most of the native Midnight Hunters believe that she was still alive. Valeria remembered seeing their prayer visuals, and murals made up for the Doctor. Well the doctor and the few dozen or so bodies that were unrecoverable during the battle.

  There they didn’t pray for her soul to pass on, like some would after a war.

  Instead, she heard their prayers.

  “Please find whatever it is you need, wherever you are and come back to us.”

  Those were the types of prayers Valeria heard.

  They spoke of her like she would grant miracles.

  At first Valeria was skeptical of everything.

  Who wouldn’t be.

  From everything she knew, Dr. Spiritlight was not even in a combat role, a speedy medic at best.

  Or at least, that was how her role was described. Even her guild title Doctor seemed to imply that she was nothing more than a healer.

  It wasn’t until later that Valeria realized that said Doctorates were in magical fields and disciplines.

  Then there was the day she saw her.

  At least, she thought it was her.

  Finding her, or at least her local Simulacrum was easy. Just follow the throngs of cheering people.

  “You came back?” Valeria found herself asking the creature.

  A creature that didn’t speak and only seemed to communicate through gestures and hand signals.

  “Why won’t you talk to me?” Valeria found herself asking, tears near to bursting on her face.

  “That’s not her, not the real her. But it’s her Simulacrum!” The woman exclaimed excitedly next to Valeria.

  Hearing the words of the woman, Valeria paused and asked, “why are you happy that this is just a Simulacrum then?”

  “Because, she’s moving, which means that the Doctor is also moving,” the lady exclaimed.

  Then out of nowhere the floating silent pixie, this Simulacrum cast one of the largest Healing and life affirming spells Valeria had ever felt soak her body and clothes and get absorbed directly into her skin.

  That moment, that was the first time that Valeria thought that some of the reverence these people had for the Doctor was likely warranted. For here it was, her Simulacrum was able to bring joy and happiness to everyone.

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  That was Valeria’s first time seeing the silent Simulacrum, but it was not her last time.

  Yet, in this moment, Valeria couldn’t help but recall that strange sense of wonderment caused by the Simulacrum’s very presence. For a moment, she wondered why she thought of that moment from weeks ago. Only to realize that her mind was equating the two moments.

  Her mind began connecting this moment with Doctor Spiritlight casting the amazing Resurrection ability on a dead book, an inanimate object. Or something that should have been inanimate, but here it was, being reborn? Or maybe recreated? Right before her eyes.

  Though it was clear that something was clearly wrong. The book was too big, much bigger than the tiny spirit seemed to be.

  The only reason Valeria even noticed this discrepancy was the way the spirit of the book seemed to flicker into and out of life.

  Then there was a pause as if the Doctor was waiting for her work to be evaluated.

  Movement.

  Flicker, pop, fizz.

  What happened next was a blur to Valeria.

  One second the Doctor with her odd living tattoo dragon took a step back, then the next she was right before the patient, her right hand out in a clasping gesture, with odd thick smoke rising.

  “What was that?” Valeria found herself asking, as her mind tried to contemplate what had just happened.

  “Shh!” Zero, the odd tattoo dragon hissed, whipping its head backwards toward the four gawkers in the back.

  Then seeing that everyone was just there staring at him, he then raised up his left claw and gave a dismissive flick of the wrist, gesturing for us all to leave.

  At first Valeria was incensed that a tattoo was gesturing for her to leave, but before she could move or even protest, the floor below them seemed to tilt downward.

  On reflex, Valeria found herself taking a half step back, followed by another as the ground continued to dip and tilt away from the room.

  Before she even realized what was happening, she along with everyone else were out in the hallway.

  Slam.

  Then as if an angry ghost was now trying for a moment of silence, the door to the Doctor’s study was closed tightly.

  “What?” Was all Jhonny managed to get out, as an even more violent dipping wave of oddly flexible floor tiles could be felt bending and twisting under their feet.

  Once again, the group either could walk backwards, away from the Doctor’s office, or trip and fall and possibly get eaten by the ever enlarging floor.

  Valeria’s mind and body worked on autopilot, following the path away, walking backward, and then finally being herded as a group to one of the corner office rooms, right before the now blocked off staircase to the outside world.

  Stumbling awkwardly, Valeria found herself walking around in what she would consider a drunken frat girl mode, from a party she went to with friends, but then got way more inebriated than she had intended.

  Worse, Valeria knew she wasn’t drunk, and the only thing she had been exposed to was dense forms of mana. Or maybe energy? That didn’t look like mana, at least not to Valeria’s eyes.

  It took a moment for the world to stop spinning, and for Valeria’s mind to right itself after randomly feeling like she was falling for so long.

  Finally, she managed to straighten herself up and found herself speaking her mind to the trio of people who now surrounded her.

  “Okay, that’s creepy. Do we now have to break through the second story window to get out?” Valeria asked, after finding herself clearly crammed in the oversized office room, one that was likely originally assigned for someone like Dr. Spiritlight, who for one reason or another chose the absolute worst room. One without a view, a mirror on the door, or otherwise way of showing that she was there.

  Then after thinking about her Master for a moment, Valeria realized exactly why Dr. Spiritlight had chosen that other room.

  SWOOSH!

  “No, we should…” Penelope began, but found her reply stopped by a sudden stream of fresh air that came through the window that quickly opened itself.

  “Okay, the creepy building is doing that odd thing where it tries to make you think you have a way out, before it slowly kills you.” Valeria noted.

  LONG Grinding and groaning sound.

  Hearing the sound, Valeria paused as she could feel the building shake as an old bone cringing grinding sound could be heard coming from outside the faculty building.

  “Okay, what was that?” Valeria asked, a bit of her tension filling her words.

  “That was the building readjusting itself,” Gwendolyn Spiritlight stated.

  Hearing that, Valeria paused, and then looked out the open window but could only see green fields and an open landscape that seemed to encapsulate the vibrancy that somehow permeated every inch of World’s End.

  The view would almost be vomit inducing, if one didn’t feel so alive and vibrant while out here.

  “Do I want to even look?” Valeria asked.

  Fortunately she was not made the sacrificial lamb in this operation, as Jhonny was the first to be intrigued as he went over to the window and looked out.

  As soon as he did, shock and then confusion filled his face.

  “How did it do that?” Jhonny asked.

  “Wait, I want to see,” Penelope stated as she all but pushed Jhonny out of the way so she too could peer out the window. The moment she did, she too paused as she looked on with confusion.

  “Wait, what is that?” Penelope asked.

  “I think it is the entry way, but folded upwards to act as an easy egress,” Jhonny replied.

  “Okay, now I have to agree with you, how is that possible?” Penelope asked.

  “I know right, I mean the building is alive, but I didn’t know it was double jointed like that,” Jhonny shot back.

  “It’s not double jointed,” Gwen began, “instead, you need to think of it as the building having and extra long tongue that it flicked up and licked its eye with.”

  “EWWW,” Jhonny and Penelope let out in unison, before turning back out the window to look at whatever had happened.

  By this point Valeria was certain that everyone was just messing with her.

  So in an effort to prove that she could take a joke and that she wouldn’t fall for such actions, she let out a long breath and responded.

  “Fine, I’ll look at it, but know I don’t believe…” was all Valeria got out before panic filled her mind as she thought the world around her had somehow twisted back in on itself.

  “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” Valeria cried out, as she backed away so quickly that she almost ran over Gwendolyn.

  Fortunately, Gwendolyn was quick on the update as she quickly grabbed the almost falling Valeria and held her upright long enough for Valeria to regain her footing.

  “That is as I described, the tongue, or in this case the stairs and walkway are flicked up and around so that they were able to attach themselves to the outside of this window frame for an easy escape route,” Gwen replied as if she was reciting today’s forecast.

  “Okay, but why would it do that?” Valeria found herself asking.

  “Likely because you threatened to break your way out of the room if you felt threatened,” Penelope replied only half looking at Valeria, while she spent the other half of her time looking out and seeming to appreciate the odd twisting structure that was the building.

  “You all are okay with this?” Valeria asked, trying to assemble her thoughts and figure out why she was the only one who seemingly had an issue with all of these oddities.

  “Are we okay with being in a sentient building that is willing to protect us and help us get out easier and feel safe while we are here? Despite clearly putting itself in odd and unnatural poses?” Jhonny asked.

  Hearing that, Valeria paused and realized that she was likely looking at this from the wrong perspective. But still, haunted house!

  Valeria’s mind was still reeling with everything, before she calmed herself and then looked around the room to realize that she had somehow fallen into the Madams Family. They were all quirky, especially the daughter who looked like she was old enough to be her actual mother’s mother.

  “Okay,” Valeria stated. This was mostly a coping mechanism for her, as she tried to reassure herself that she was not in fact going crazy.

  At her words, everyone just glanced at her and nodded. Then they all went onto their own projects.

  After a long moment of contemplation, one that was filled with the sights and sounds of unattended magic being cast in the background of a building that was now designed to keep and protect its occupants.

  Contemplating everything, all while seeing flashes of sparkling lights fill the hallway from a no doubt fully focused Doctor Spiritlight, Valeria began to finally understand exactly what was happening.

  Then with slightly more thought and understanding of the situation, she finally asked.

  “We never stood a chance, did we?” Valeria asked.

  “You mean, you as the Legrand Empire?” Jhonny asked.

  No sooner had he spoken, then the truth of those words made sense. She was no longer part of the Legrand Empire, and despite being away for over a month held in this odd form of captivity, she still found her thoughts formed to the jargon and rhetoric of the old country.

  Realizing her mistake, she only sighed, lowered her head and prepared for the punishment that would come for her slip.

  “Yeah, they, never stood a chance, did they?” Valeria asked, eyes mostly pointing towards the floor.

  “Not really, well not when magical means were in effect. Had you stuck to traditional mechanical elements,” Jhonny began, but then paused as he seemed to come to some realization about that as well.

  “Well, even then you would have first had to deal with the Blighted sand. Then any machines that did come here would have to be able to withstand the natural corruption of magic. No, looking at it, your former empire seemed greedy, reaching out too far too quickly.” Jhonny posed, his mind trying to evaluate all the details as he saw them.

  “Huh,” was all Valeria could reply as she nodded her head in agreement and then waited.

  Then after still more time left for silent contemplation, she found herself thinking back to the Resurrection of the Skill book that she saw.

  Before the invasion, the Legrand Empire had done their homework, despite how it all seems.

  It was known that the Skill Books existed.

  In fact, there was even a local Spy Guild quest that warned people of the Skill Books and their levels.

  That was the information she had, when going into the battle. She was even encouraged by others to join the Thieves Guild in Timult, at the chance of getting double rewards. First, they would get a skill that was likely maxed out, and then they would get rewarded for completing that otherwise impossible task.

  It was too good to be true.

  Though now she wondered what type of sick monster came up with the idea for this being a quest at all.

  The quest was impossible, made even more impossible by what she just saw. Or rather, what she thought she saw.

  Then as if to clarify, she found herself asking.

  “To be clear, everyone else saw the level of that book right? The one the Doctor Resurrected right before our eyes?” Valeria asked.

  At that Penelope and Jhonny both nodded their heads in agreement.

  Simultaneously, Gwendolyn had an odd look come to her face as she turned around to face Penelope and Jhonny.

  “Wait, what level was it?” Gwendolyn asked, her wide dead eyes seeming to glisten with the faintest of hues in the afternoon light that shown through the open widow.

  “You didn’t see?” Penelope asked.

  Gwen shook her head.

  “How could you not see?” Jhonny spoke the very question that Valeria herself was now wondering.

  “Okay, we know I’m blind, but what level was it?”