The Tale of Three
Chapter 34
Keeping a close eye
The plan was simple.
All it required was for Meteora to somehow trick Ery into showing his true self, remember that her name was currently "Mariposa" the entire time, escape, survive out in the cold and freezing Canadian wilderness, channel up her magic to a good enough level that will enable her to get back to her own time without any more of the shenanigans that caused this whole mess in the first place, and make sure to forget about the little detail that Seth's prison was only a few hours walk away, something that she believed was hardly a coincidence, especially considering that he was about to break out "very soon" as the Voice had said.
…
Okay, sure, so maybe it wasn't that simple. But since Meteora couldn't think of a better plan on her own, it would have to do. The first part would obviously be the hardest. Although she has started to warm up to Ery thanks to his overly friendly nature and disposition, something that almost made her feel safe, she wasn't a fool. Trusting him completely and putting her life in his hands could mean dying for a third time, an experience that she was beginning to grow tired of.
Ery was good. She could admit this. He played his part of a innocent, caring, and helpful lizard very well.
But it was still just that. A part. A ruse. Meteora could easily see which parts of his story were true and which weren't. Did he enjoy her company? Was he happy that someone in need was saved due to him? No. Definitely not. Nobody with a personality like that, a person who loves to help and wishes to erase all the hatred and bigotry from the world would live out here. In a wasteland of ice and snow. No, they'd be back in Earthni, trying to convince everyone else that all three species should get along and love each other. Like she was supposed to.
But instead, he was in the middle of nowhere, living in a hut, and doing squat for a cause that he claimed he devoted his life towards. Meteora took this as an immediate red flag. Because frankly, doing that only made things worse for his kind. He had told her that everyone misunderstood lizards. That they were actually "quite nice" if people gave them a chance. But because he made his home in a place where nobody would ever want to live (apart from him, apparently), anyone that saw him would assume that he was up to no good. Why hide out if you have nothing to hide?
So, it made sense for Meteora to be slightly (very) suspicious of him. Just as he was no doubt suspicious of her. Like seriously? Jenoraclipsa? She cursed herself again and again for calling her supposed "homeland" that ridiculous name. The second she said it, Ery almost certainly knew it was all a lie, and ever since then she had been digging her own grave.
But she still had to try. She couldn't let herself give it all up now. If Ery did in fact plan to murder her or betray her or do any number of things that made Meteora's skin crawl, then she had to get out and/or kill him as soon as possible. But of course…there was always another side to this. If he was actually none of those things, and she was wrong in thinking that he was evil and all that because he was just being nice, then she would look like the villain here.
So the main problem would be to discern if the lizard was truly a killer or not. She would have to listen as carefully as possible to his words and his tone for any sign that something was off with them. Was it all lies? Did they possibly hint at a possible secondary meaning, one that was much more malicious than what was coming out of his mouth?
If so, then it would have to be taken into account. Every single bit of it. And not just his words. She would have to watch his actions. How he moved. When he moved. Why he moved. She had to keep him in her sights at all times, lest she make the dark mistake of turning her back to him and giving him a clean shot and literally stabbing her in the back. The best she could hope for at that point was a quick death, although a part of her knew that if Ery was the jerk she thought him to be, he wouldn't grant her the gift of a painless end.
But if it really came to it, she had to make sure she could defend herself. Ery had to have weapons of some sort. His claws alone wouldn't do. (Hopefully.) She knew this because ever since Ery had told her that they were in Canada, the only two bits of knowledge she knew about the country came to mind. That it was up north and thus colder than most places she had been to, and that it had moose.
The moose part was particularly important. One time, when Jenkins was telling them random facts about the (now defunct) countries of the world, he made sure to mention moose when he got to Canada, and said something along the lines of "Moose are nasty fuckers you two. You ever see a moose, you get the hell out of there. I don't care if you're armed or not." That particular conversation had been a fun one. Of course, it's not like it had ever come into play back then, as any wild animal was far and few between in the wastes. And besides, the three of them usually killed and ate any they came across, regardless of how big or vicious it was. Food supplies were always low back then, so it's not like running away was an option.
But that was besides the point. What was important was that if there were any moose around, the Ery would know that they were quote in quote "nasty fuckers", and that he had to have something sharp or otherwise equally deadly to protect himself with.
So as silly as all of it seemed, Meteora's hunch on Ery having weapons was literally thanks to her knowledge about a wild animal and a simple hunch. Not that she was complaining. Stranger things had happened. Like suddenly being warped to the past and dying for example. That had been quite the odd experience.
Now that she was sure of her little weapon theory, she had to find out where he kept them. It was entirely possible that he would just tell her if she asked, given how nice he was being and how much he wanted her to trust him. So that was one option. But if she did ask and he didn't tell her, then he would know she was looking for a way to defend herself, possibly from him.
And once that happened, everything would fall apart.
If, of course, he was evil. All of it was still riding on that. And by this point, she kind of hoped that he was evil, or else all planning would have been for nothing. But she made sure to pinch herself for that one.
But until it was confirmed, she would have to be suspicious of him. If he made a move, then she would react accordingly. Either flee or blast him with a spell. (In the unlikely event that she had the energy too.) The second option was the one she definitely favored more, but also the one that would be much more difficult to pull off. At this point, after all the lessons and spells, she knew exactly how much magic she had in...reverse, or whatever it was called. And right now, those reserves were dangerously empty. She might have enough for that light spell, but that was as far as it went. For some reason, her magic was recharging at a much slower rate than it usually did.
This posed another question however. Earlier, The Voice has shown great confusion and concern as to why she hadn't died from simply being here for more than a few seconds, as staying in a time that wasn't your own meant that magic was constantly sapped from one's body. Stay there for too long, and death followed soon after. Like most things that involve magic.
Now, Meteora already knew all of this. The Voice has made sure she remembered it before telling her how to use the spell. But for whatever reason, it hadn't come true. At least, not entirely. While she hadn't died (at least not from losing too much magic), it was possible that the spell was still affecting her. The thought that her being there was causing her abilities to recharge much more slowly was not a comforting thought. That meant that she could only use a spell as a last resort. And even then she would have to be careful.
'Alright.' She thought. 'Then it's settled. I watch him as carefully as I can. If I suspect something's up, or if he attacks me outright, then I either run away or fight back, depending on what I'm capable of at the moment. If I run, I have to go back out in the cold. If I fight, then it's equally as deadly. But…' She took a deep breath and exhaled, knowing she had no other choice. 'It's all I can do for now.'
Once that was done, she shook her head, changed her expression to one that was as innocent as possible, and quickly left the bathroom, knowing that Ery was probably already suspicious with how long she was taking. Hopefully he hadn't heard her being choked by her weird mirror clone or the various sobbing noises she had made. One would be embarrassing, and the other would raise more questions than she had answers for.
Thankfully, he didn't make a comment or even look her way at first. Rather, he was over in a corner of his hut, setting up a makeshift bed on the ground. It actually looked quite nice, all things considered. Sure, the pillow looked like it had been thrown in a dumpster and then washed with a bar of soap that had also been found in said dumpster, but still comfortable enough to sleep on.
Not that she was ever one for comfort. Odds were that the second she laid down on that bed, it once again wouldn't "feel right" and she would roll onto the floor and sleep there. It seemed to be a bit of a habit. First at Janna's base, then at Lucitor castle, and now probably here as well.
She hoped that someday she would get used to and enjoy the feeling of "real beds"...
Hearing her approach, Ery turned around and flashed her a comforting and non-threatening smile, something that made Meteora feel uncomfortable and relaxed at the same time.
"Nice to see you." He said. "I finished making that bed for you. Do you like it, or should I start over?"
"It looks great." Meteora replied quickly. "Thank you."
"Ah, no problem. It's the least I can do." Ery said. "And if I'm being quite honest, I'm going to turn in soon myself. I have something important that I need to wake up nice and early for. Do you need anything else from me?"
Meteora winced, but tried to hide it from Ery. That was it then. She had no choice but to spend the night in this place. She kind of already suspected that that's how it was going to turn out, but that still didn't mean she was okay with it.
"No." She said. "I think I'm okay for now. And again...thanks for all you've done for me. Really. I mean, I don't think I deserve all this."
"Nonsense Mariposa." Ery chuckled. "What kind of person would I be if I left you out there for the wolves to find and drag away? An absolute monster, that's what." He said, answering his own question before she could respond. "Now you should get some rest. But...I know you might not trust me completely yet, so if you want, I have a safe room that can only be locked from the inside. If you really want to, you can stay there."
There was a brief silence between the two of them, during which many things happened, all on the non-physical plain.
'Shit. What is he doing?' Meteora thought, panicking internally. 'What do I do now? I mean, obviously, I should take the room, but if I do that, then he might think that I think he's going to murder me. And if he really is, then he might do it the second I say "yes." No point in keeping me around once I start to catch on.'
Ery, meanwhile, was thinking hard as well, his own mind keenly reflecting Meteora's on whether or not she would take up his offer.
'Well girl?' He thought. 'What did you plan to do? How much do you know? Do you suspect me of any evil deeds I plan to perform? The look on your face, although well hidden, certainly says so. Let us hope that you don't try anything, for your sake.'
'But then again, what if he had other things planned for me?' Meteora thought. 'If anything he said wasn't a lie, I'm betting it was the part about how magic users were rare and that it was amazing that I could cast spells. Does he somehow plan to harness that magic for himself? He would gain a lot more out of that than slaughtering me.'
'I can see it in the way you walk, I can see it the way you move.' Ery thought. 'You're still too weak to try anything. If anything you said was the truth, it was the part about magic. I could tell. But there is no way you can cast a spell right now. Not in your present state…'
'Or does he already have magic?' Meteora pondered, shifting where she stood. 'He did bring me back to life. I imagine that takes some pretty powerful spells to accomplish, considering you're literally bringing a soul back from the afterlife or whatever and forcing it back in a body. Although, I wonder…"
'If you try to cast a spell now, you could die.' Ery thought, a sadistic grin on his face, spreading from ear to ear. 'I know all the rules of magic. I know everything there is to know, even if I can't cast anything myself and have to rely on potions. But one day, I will gain that power, even if it takes a thousand lifetimes. Of course, that still doesn't answer the question…'
'...Where did I really go when that happened?' Meteora thought, an expression of pure concentration now adorning her face. 'Was that really the afterlife? If it was, that's a pretty big disappointment, considering that all I saw was darkness. And if the feeling of me being picked up and having stuff poured on me really was Ery carrying me back to his hut and then bringing me back to life, why did I only feel that, and not the cold around me? Shouldn't I have felt everything?'
'...About who you were talking too.' Ery thought, the grin on his face now gone and replaced with a look that mirrored Meteora's. 'I have excellent hearing you know girl. I heard it all. I heard your whispers. Stuff about magic. Stuff about someone named Jenkins. Which hopefully isn't the same Jenkins that I'm thinking about. But even if it is him, that human will get his due. I'll make sure that Seth himself kills him for what he's done to the remaining Septarians…'
'Purgatory? Heaven? The Underworld?' Meteora thought, sifting through her options. 'None of those? Agh! It had to be somewhere! Now...now...oh forget it. You know that's not important. You can ask the Voice later because it'll probably know anyways. For now, focus on Ery like you planned. Don't take the room, if it even exists. Sleep here in order to make him trust you. As for the question about the weapons, only ask once you're sure he doesn't think you have any ulterior motives. Because right now…'
They looked each other in the eye, almost as if they knew what the other was thinking. But neither noticed. They were still stuck in their own head, almost completely oblivious to the world around them.
'The only thing I can do…'
'Is to trick him…'
'Deceive her…'
'And make sure…'
'That I never…
'Ever…'
'...let them out of my sight.' Both of them thought at the same time, making a moment of peculiar symmetry, although no one knew it. Once this was done and they came back to the real world, they realized they were now staring at each other aggressively, like two people in a street brawl.
"..."
"..."
The awkward silence was broken by Meteora speaking up, the tension between them so heavy it was like they had just pulled a gun on each other.
"I'm going to go to bed." She said, trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible. "And sorry if I didn't say anything for a while. I was caught up in my own thoughts."
"Not to worry." Ery said. "I was as well. Are you sure you're comfortable staying here?"
"Yeah." Meteora lied. "After all you've done for me, I think I trust you enough to sleep here for the night."
"Hm. Well, that's good." Ery said. "That was my intention from the beginning. I just want you to trust me and see that I will do anything I can to help you. Tomorrow, we'll discuss a few things that I think need to be talked about. Mainly a bit more about how you got here, and how you think you could get back." He stretched himself out. "So, for the final time, goodnight."
He then turned his back to Meteora, and she did the same, the two of them literally breaking the promises they had made to themselves after only a few seconds ago. They once again both thought similar things as they looked away from each other, as if their minds were one and the same.
'I'll be keeping my eye on you the whole night girl…'
'Forget going to bed. Whatever room he enters, keep watch on it, and don't fall asleep no matter what happens.'
Ery then went into his room, a simple, small dwelling with a bed and a few personal objects. He closed the door, huffed, and walked over to a hole he had made in the wall, but not before grabbing a nearby stool made out of tree bark. He sat down on it and looked through the hole, where he could see Meteora settling down in her makeshift bed. Said hole was so small that no one could possibly see it from the other side if it wasn't pointed out to them, so there was no way Meteora could spot it. He had made it a few years ago for situations just like this one, in case he needed to spy on any "guests" to make sure that they didn't try anything. And sure, this Mariposa was technically the first guest he ever had, but still, the hole had paid off in the end, and that was what mattered.
But he would have to sacrifice the dreams he had tonight, the ones he had every night, the ones where the world was ruled by Septarians. But it would be worth it. All of it worth it, just for this.
For the chance to grab hold of the magic that courses through her.
Or just a meal, depending on whether she was still lying or not. Either way, win-win.
'So worth it…and I can't wait to see how this goes. I wonder how much my little emotion potion will affect her…' He thought, as Meteora finally got into the bed he made for her and pulled the blankets over herself.
But she had no plans on falling asleep. She kept her eyes wide open and didn't take them off Ery's door. She knew he was probably watching her. In one way or another. So she had to do the same. It was almost like she could feel Ery's single, beady eye staring at her through the hole in the wall, even if she wasn't directly aware of it. But she still felt it. She knew it was watching her, and it knew she knew, and she knew it knew she knew.
And all of this somehow went back to the eye. Unmoving. Unblinking. Although that was likely just because he was a lizard.
'What are you thinking now…' She thought. 'If you're evil, you're thinking that I know exactly what you have planned for me, like I'm some sort of psychic. But if you're not, you understand. You understand the fact that I might not trust you completely. But now...now that I sense you looking at me...spying on me like this...I don't think you have any good intentions in mind Ery.'
She fought back the urge to sleep, wishing that the Voice was here to keep her awake with it's constant rambling. Then it would be impossible for her to fall asleep. Although that would require devoting her complete attention to the Voice for who knows how many hours. And then she might just pass out because of pure boredom.
Boredom…
'No.' She thought, pinching herself underneath the covers. 'Don't let your eyes feel heavy. Do anything you can to stay awake. Bite your tongue. Start shaking like you're having a bad dream. Hell, rake your claws against your arms and legs if you have too! But don't fall asleep! Then Ery wins! You have to make sure he doesn't do anything in the middle of the night. Even if you feel that he's taken his eye off you, you have to keep watching. He might not murder me, but he may try something else. Lock me up somewhere. Attach me to a device that could take my magic away. Anything is a possibility.'
Like a switch had been flipped, Meteora started swearing furiously under his breath, using words that would make even Jenkins feel uncomfortable. She quieted down to a soft whisper a moment later, and only slightly cooled her vocabulary.
"Where is that fucking Voice when I need it?!" She cursed, making sure to keep her own voice as low as possible. "What were you even doing? Fixing or checking something? How long does that even take? Did it not occur to you that I might die in the time it took for you to do that? Hurry the fuck up and start talking you insufferable prick!"
When I one answered, she pulled the blankets up to her nose and tensed her shoulders up.
"Shit shit shit…" She muttered, letting out a sigh. "Everything sucks so bad. Jenkins and Mariposa probably think I'm either dead or ran away, I have no idea of when I can get back to the present, if I ever have the energy to do so at all, and now I'm in the middle of nowhere, in the hut of a person who's still looking at me through unknown means, and who I'm also at the complete mercy of!"
As she started listing all the reasons why her life was currently at a low point, she found it harder and harder to keep quiet, getting to the point where she was almost using her normal voice.
"Not to mention the fact that I still have a war to win in the Underworld, and that everyone at castle Lucitor might already be dead! It's been so long! Drosid has no doubt already reduced it to a pile of rubble. Everyone there would easily fall to his army, small as it is. And level five help us if he has more weapons from the surface and that soldier Dave interrogated had somehow lied. Then he could blast us with it the second we move that boulder and step in through the portal. The end, we lose, he wins, everyone dies."
She sighed again, although it came out as more of a grumble. "And what's more...the problems just keep adding up." She said, her claws digging into her arms. "Let's see. What else have I not listed off? Oh yes, my fucking reflection trying to kill me out of nowhere! Like come on! What did I ever do to you? You sure did a shit job at explaining that little bit of information, didn't you? Why don't you-"
"Could you please quiet down?" Ery's voice said from the other room. "Sorry, but I'm trying to sleep, and you're being kind of loud…"
"S-Sorry!" Meteora blurted out, before her expression changed to one of pure fear. 'Fuck.' She thought. 'Fuckfuckfuck! How much of that did he hear? All of it? The last part? When did I stop whispering? When I mentioned the Underworld part? Or was it during the reflection rant? When? When? When?!'
Meteora then started whining like a scared puppy, knowing just how bad it might be if Ery heard all of that. He wouldn't know everything. But it would be enough. If he heard what she said about the Underworld war, then it would be plainly obvious that she was much more important than what she initially told him.
However, it was possible that these events would confuse him more than intrigue him. After all, at no point did she mention that she was from the future. If he had overheard her speaking about a war, then he would assume that it was happening right now, instead of fifteen years later. So if he killed her and left to go do...whatever with the Underworld war, the fact that there wasn't one yet would greatly confound him.
Not like that would help her corpse in any way, but still, it was something to think about. Something to distract her with so she didn't fall asleep. And by now, that was becoming harder and harder to do. As uncomfortable as the makeshift bed was (she now assumed that she would never be able to sleep properly in a "real bed" for the rest of her days), her eyelids felt like they had a mind of their own. And that mind decided that they are going to close like a pair of garage doors.
'Stay awake. Stay the fuck awake!' She thought/cursed. 'Ery...he is still watching you. Always watching. You have to do the same. You can't let him win. This is what he wants after all. For you to drop your guard...to think that this place is safe...and even if you never do any of those things because you're not stupid enough to fall for his charade, he might think you have. And then, he'll make his move and go in for the kill. I'm ninety percent sure that Ery wants to murder me now. Why the hell else would he be spying on me? Particularly right after he said that he was trying to sleep!'
Meteora shook with rage beneath the blanket, but a moment later, this was replaced by a thin feeling of grief and regret, something that had come seemingly come out of nowhere.
'But...what if he's not?' She thought, her face dropping. 'Hold on, what are you even thinking? That you can feel him watching you? What the hell does that even mean? That's not something you can feel! It's…...well, just that! A feeling! A feeling that you're risking your life over! If he's really as good as he seems, then he might not even defend himself if I attack him. He'll think he failed to save someone. Failed in his mission to help people. He might embrace that fate. And then, I'll have done nothing but kill an innocent. An innocent who did nothing but help.
For the first time since she had clambered into her bed, Meteora turned over and looked away from Ery's door. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the notion that he was looking at her through whatever means vanished instantly, like it was never there to begin with. Meteora gasped as she realized what this meant.
'It's gone…' She thought, her eyes widening as she practically went into a state of shock. 'It's fucking gone! And if he is really observing me, then it's not like he would look away the second I rolled over! He'd spend the whole night making sure I didn't try anything! So...so then what was it?'
Reaching deep into her psych, Meteora began trembling as the guilt she was hit with only a few second ago started increasing in power. Her emotion started being widely thrown around as tears started to well up in her eyes. She then started skating uncontrollably, looking like someone had thrown her into a freezer.
'What am I doing?' She thought to herself. 'What has he done that's suspicious? The Voice warned me about him and I think he's looking at me? Is that it? Everything else is based on a hunch. He's been doing nothing but acting kind, caring, and…and…...acting...like...him. Holy...holy shit. He's been acting like how he was in the old days.'
Meteora bit her lip bloody as she recalled the earlier flashback she had in the bathroom, with Jenkins comforting her right after she smashed that mirror and told him that she hated the look of herself. A different person than who he was now. A person that reminded her...much of Ery.
'Is that why I don't trust him?' She thought. 'Be-because he subconsciously reminded me of Jenkins and I just didn't like it? Because it made me nervous and annoyed to see someone care for me like that? Like I was a scared little girl? Was that why I broke down in the bathroom like that? Because it was starting to take its toll on me, even if I didn't realize it?'
These questions and more poured through Meteora's head, each one hitting her like a punch to the face. She had been so careful around Ery for a reason that she wished wasn't true. And maybe now...it wasn't. The truth was much more complicated. Ery wasn't the one at fault here.
She was. She had brought all this on herself. The combination of her immediate distrusting of strangers as well as Ery reminding her of Jenkins had formed together and created a suspicion that grew stronger if he so much as looked at her.
Meteora sniffled. "Why…" She whispered. "I didn't...I couldn't have…no. Nonono. I'm sorry. I am so sorry…"
"I'm back." The Voice said, popping up out of nowhere. But if Meteora cared, she didn't show it.
"..."
"I said, I'm back."
"..."
"Uh, Meteora?"
"Yeah?" She whimpered, not surprised or concerned at all that the Voice has returned. Mostly because it had come back at the worst possible moment and she was currently a wreck.
"Are-are you okay?" It asked, immediately taking note of what was happening."You...you're crying."
"No." She replied. "I'm not." She took a deep and shaky breath. "What did you tell me about Ery again?"
"That you shouldn't trust him." The Voice said, still sounding greatly concerned for the girl. "He likely has ulterior motives for us that will prove most troublesome."
"He doesn't." Meteora said confidently.
"Huh?"
"He's not the problem here." She said. "I am. I'm the problem. I've been suspicious of him this whole time for no reason other than my own insecurities. He's genuinely trying to help me. All the while I've been making plans to kill him and escape in case things went wrong."
The Voice sighed. "What went wrong?" It asked. "What did I miss?"
"Enough." Meteora said. "You missed enough. You wanna know why I distrust Ery? Why I don't like being around him, even when he was being more friendly to me than any stranger had ever been?"
"Umm...why?"
"Because he reminds me of Jenkins." She said. "But not like how Jenkins is now. The Jenkins from the past. The one who was a parent and not just a protector." Meteora clenched her teeth together. "I think seeing Ery like this was affecting my subconscious. Making me think that he wasn't who he said he was. Because I didn't like the memories it brought up."
"Meteora…" The Voice said, and immediately she knew what it was about to say by it's tone. At this point it was way too easy to tell. "Just because Ery was bringing up some bad memories, that doesn't mean he is a good person. Think about it. Why would he live out here if he truly wanted to-"
"But they aren't bad memories!" Meteora whispered/yelled. "Those memories are some of the best and sweetest ones I have! Back before any of this. No magic, no Janna, No Drosid, no time travel, no-"
"No Eclipsa?"
"..."
Meteora remained deathly silent after this, as if all the air had been knocked out of her. Because it was right. She was just listing all the bad things. Every thing horrible that had happened to her in the past month or so. And thus…
"You're forgetting the good." The Voice told her. "And I know. It's the apocalypse. There's not much good to find out in the wastes, or anywhere else really. But it's still there. Your mother. All the people trying to live peacefully in the Underworld. The fact that your Jenkins and Mariposa have cared for and protected you as your father and sister, and that they wouldn't let anything hurt you."
"But-but those three things are the only things that I think are good. Everything else is bad." She said, as if she was trying to find a reason to stay miserable. "Anytime something has gone right, it all goes to shit soon afterwards. It's basically a loop at this point. Just the same thing happening over and over again, without any stop to it. That's my life now. Those are my memories."
"...Are you trying to make yourself depressed?" The Voice asked. "This isn't really like you. I know you're a teenager, and so you're probably going to go through a phase or two, but this is pretty sudden. I…...this is not you."
"Maybe." Meteora said. "Or maybe it's just how I felt on the inside all this time. Did I bottle it all up perhaps? Bury it deep as I could, trying to ignore something that I knew would come back to haunt me later? How long have I had these feelings?! My whole life?!"
The air seemed to grow heavier as Meteora continued to nonsensically complain. And not figuratively. The actual air in the room got thicker like something was affecting it. In the next room over, Ery took notice of this almost immediately, knew what was causing it, and began to wonder if he should take action.
"Uh, Meteora, I think-"
"And now I'm here." She said, ignoring the Voice and whatever it had to say. "In the past, staying at the hut of someone who I've treated like trash and have been suspicious of simply because they reminded me of my father, and who has been so nice to me! What would have happened before if I tried to kill him the second I woke up? Can you spell "I'm the bad guy now" Voice?!"
Meteora practically yelled this at the top of her lungs, no longer caring if her temporary caretaker heard it or not. The entire hut started shaking like it was in an earthquake, and the epicenter was Meteora.
"Meteora!" The Voice yelled. "Calm down! Your emotions are subconsciously affecting your magic! You're unleashing waves of it that could-"
"Good." She said.
"W-what?"
"Good." She said. "What if I just destroy everything? What if I wipe it all out of existence? You said the monster butterfly form had the potential to wipe out entire planets, right? So what's wrong with doing that? No more planet, no more Seth. No more Seth, no more problems!"
"What…what the fuck is wrong with you?!" The Voice cursed, a rather rare event. "Where is this coming from? Using the monster-butterfly form to destroy the entire planet? Have you absolutely lost it?! You're supposed to save this world, remember? Why are you thinking about these things?!"
"I-argh! I don't know!" Meteora said. "They just came out of nowhere! I was already a mess when you arrived. Which, by the way, you took your damn time with! What were you doing?! What if I had been injured or killed while you were away?"
"I...sorry." The Voice said, not warning to upset her any further. The fact that the entire room was still shaking was something that it did not want to escalate. "But I had too. If I don't find out why we came to this time and why you aren't dead from overusing your magic yet, then we may never get back. It's possible the time stream has been corrupted. If that's what actually happened, then I need to find out how and why so I can try and fix it."
"Oh goody. A corrupted time stream." Meteora scoffed. "Isn't that just great. I mean, I don't understand what that means, but it's bad right? Wait, who am I even kidding? It's definitely bad…"
"Indeed. But don't think you can just take the conversation elsewhere. What was that just a few seconds ago? You got more angry at me than I've ever seen you…...I think. And you claim it "came out of nowhere"? Really?"
"Do you want me to lie?" Meteora growled, making her surroundings tremble in place like they had been tossed in the air. "And I think that anger is still there. I'm still pissed at everything right now. Except Ery."
"Is that so? Well, then perhaps you should...should...oh crap."
"What?" Meteora asked. "What's wrong now?"
"That...that deceitful little son of a bitch…" The Voice said, momentarily confusing Meteora. "Oh, he is going to pay for that. If this doesn't wear off…then I am going to make sure that he spends an eternity suffering."
"Uh, you're starting to sound like Jenkins, and it's freaking me out." Meteora said. "What's going on?"
"That little shit Ery. He…...wait." It paused and appeared to think about something, while Meteora took the covers off of herself and sat up. "Are you angry right now?"
"A little yeah, but not as much as I was before. I think I kinda lost it earlier."
"Do you still think that blowing up the world is a good solution to all of this?"
"I...no? I'm pretty sure that was just in the moment. I was too overwhelmed with all those problems and feelings crashing onto me at once. And the fact that you were also talking to me didn't help matters."
"Errr...right. Good. That meant the effects are seemingly temporary, because that was the fastest emotional turnaround I've ever seen. Looks like I came in when you were hit with the worst of it. I wonder what he was actually hoping to accomplish here. Was he just having some fun?"
"Who are you talking about?" Meteora asked. "Wait, are you talking about Ery? Did he do something to me?!"
"Quiet down!" The Voice yelled at her. "We're already in a bad enough situation. No doubt he's heard every word of the last five minutes."
"Right...sorry." Meteora said. "But so I really need to be quiet? Like I said, I only thought he was evil because-"
"Because of a reason that could easily get you killed." The Voice said. "I know he reminds you of how Jenkins once was. He reminds me of that as well. I remember it. I saw him. How he acted around you two. How caring and careful he was. But that person is gone Meteora. He's not coming back. Now that you've grown up, you have to see that. And by the way, why would you even want him to start doing that kind of stuff again? I thought you hated being treated like a little kid."
"I do." Meteora said. "But that's not the point. I'm not sure if I actually want him to come back, or if I just...miss it. Miss how simple things were back then. Like I said earlier. There were so few things to worry about back then."
"No, there weren't." The Voice stated. "You had plenty to worry about. Running out of food and water. Random scavengers attacking you. Getting lost and being unable to find the others. Yes, those are insignificant problems compared to the ones you gave today. But life was not simpler. Just more repetitive."
"I still have to worry about those things." Meteora said. "Nothing has changed in that regard. All the classic problems have just been tossed up with the news ones."
"Mm...not really, if I'm being honest. The three things I listed are hardly a concern for you anymore. Running out of food and water? You have those packs for the moment. Being attacked by scavengers? With your magic, you don't have to worry about that. Just making your hand glow would be more than enough for them to turn tail and get as far away from you as possible. And as for getting lost? You're staying in one area for the moment, and have a camp to go back to, so yeah."
"I was staying in one area until I got us stuck in the past." Meteora pointed out, making sure to keep her voice to a whisper. "And by the way, do you know why we came here of all places? And why haven't I died yet?"
"I...I don't. I spent hours trying to figure it out. I looked through your memories. I looked through mine. I double checked every part of the mind realm to make sure nothing was going haywire. But I found nothing. Whatever the reason, it is a mystery to me."
"That's not comforting. So I guess the only thing to do now is to try and get back to our time. Although...I did make a discovery earlier."
"What is it?"
"My magic isn't recharging at the normal rate." She revealed. "By now I should have enough to cast an attack spoke or something, but I don't. I'm still really weak. I'm not saying that it's not coming back to me, it's just going really, really slowly."
"That's...interesting. I suppose that could be the travel spells taking an affect on you, or maybe-Wait! That's it!"
"What's it?"
"I think I know why you aren't dead. But I have to be sure. I'm going to go now. Stay here and don't do anything stupid."
"What? You're leaving again?" Meteora hissed. "But you came back only a few minutes ago? And what were you talking about when you mentioned something about "what Ery did to me?" We kind of just skipped over that for a while! There's still a lot I have to discuss with you!"
"Can't. More important things. I'll be back in the morning."
"No! Wait! You...you...no." Meteora said, realizing that it was already gone. She was alone in her head again. Alone in this hut. With the lizard she thought was actually good for a second there, but now that the Voice said he had "done something" to her, possibly relating to the outburst from earlier, the suspicions had returned and with it, the anxiety.
She groaned loudly. "That was easily the dumbest and most nonsensical conversation I ever heard in my entire life." She said to herself, even if it really wasn't true. "Seriously, I got more questions than answers out of that." She paused for a moment and then let herself fall backwards onto the bed, not bothering to pull the blankets back up. "Although, in all honesty, that applies to most conversations I have these days."
Meteora swallowed and wished she had some water, as her throat was so dry it felt like someone had taken sand right of the desert and made her eat it. But she ignored this feeling (she was good at doing that after a decade and a half) and instead put her hands behind in her head and let the bedspread stay at her waist. She was hardly even cold anyways. In fact, she felt warm, almost like she had a fever. But Meteora knew better. She wasn't sick. That heat was from all the rage she had expressed earlier, something that had taken a greater toll on her mind than initially thought.
'And...what even was that?' She thought. 'It was just like the anger I felt before I cast the travel spell. Unhinged, almost, like I couldn't control myself. Like I needed to let it out or else I'd have blown up. But...would I?" She contemplated. 'I've held in my anger before, and usually everything turns out okay. But this time...when I exploded and let loose with my magic...I just got us stuck in two huge messes. First we got placed in the past, and now Ery now a lot more than I'd like him to know. So...I guess this means I should try and hold it in? After all, it's not like I'm literally going to blow up if I get too angry.'
She bit her lip and let her head sink into the pillow.
'Okay, that's only partially true. A blood vessel in my head might explode or something. I think? Did Jenkins say you can die that way? I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about brain aneurysms, but were those caused by anger or something else?'
She scoffed. 'Something I need to ask him to explain when I get back. Along with god knows what else. Like who Ery is and...hey!' She gripped the sides of the pillow and buried her face into it. 'That's another thing I still have to figure out now. That damn old lizard...is he good or bad?' She asked herself. 'Which is he really? It feels like it's back and fucking forth with this guy. First I thought he was going to murder me because of the location and his overly friendly nature, and then I thought they I was just an asshole and making assumptions because of said nature, and now, with the Voice saying he "did something" to me, I'm not sure what to think. Like, what would he have even done to me in the first place? And when? When he brought me back to life? Later than that? Or maybe even earlier?'
Meteora huffed and turned back on her side, specifically the side they didn't make her think Ery was spying on her. She was done with that.
'Screw it.' She thought. 'Screw all of it. For now, I'm going to say forget all the earlier plans and just go to sleep already. If Ery wanted to kill me like some random murderer, he'd have done it already and not wasted any of his food or water or stuff like that on me. He has something else planned. I'll make sure to keep a close watch and all that crap until I figure out a better, or at least more detailed, plan. I'll break my rule of making every decision for myself and play by his rules. But if I get the energy needed to leave this time, then I'm getting out of here without a word, and never coming back.'
She exhaled, closed her eyes, and started to feel sleep overtake her.
'The past...this past...is dead to my future. I focus on that only from now on, even if there's not much left of it at least then maybe I'll finally be able to save one world.'
'Just...one.'
And as her consciousness faded away into dreams, Ery, still watching her like a hawk, rested his hand in his chin. The girl was powerful and at least knew some sort of magic. That much was evident now. The way she made his hut shake in her moment of anger proved that. But who was she talking to? And was she really from the future? Had to be, her anger was likely clouding her judgment and making her forget that he could hear her. But all these answers could be useful. All of it intrigued him. He smiled as a plan came to mind.
'That anger…' He thought. 'That power she had...I think I found the perfect way to use it.'
He took his eye away from his spy hole and chuckled.
'And now all that is left...is to break the girl, and make sure she unleashes it exactly where I need her to be.'
End chapter 34
A/N: Oh boy. Things are going back and forth just like Meteora said. At the current moment, she doesn't know what to think of him. The Voice got off topic and explained other things before it could specify what it meant by him "doing something" to her, and then left, which it seems to do a lot nowadays. But what he did will be explained. I'll give you a hint though. It is responsible for her uncharacteristic outburst earlier in the chapter. Where she thought that blowing up the world was a good solution for her problems, as well as some doubts she had.
Next chapter Ery will see a portion of what she can really do, and we'll get a likely look into what's happening in the present.
Oh, and that shaking was definitely an unintentional move by her part. That's something that will come up again and will also be expanded upon as to what it really is.
But as always, thank you for reading and please PM me or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.
