Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord or any other intellectual property used in this story and would like it if none of you claimed I did.
Note: Semi-Filler chapter inbound! You have been warned.
(Sounds)
"Talking"
'Thinking'
-Messages
Special Item Name
"Special voice"
[Spoken Spell/Ability]
{Wordless Spell/Ability}
Die.
Get up.
Die again.
Get up.
Die once more.
Try again.
Get pushed back down and die.
Nothing ever changes, just the number of times you've died.
Just an endless tunnel shrouded by death after death.
My life is for nothing, but to die.
Die
Die Die
Die Die Die
DieDieDieDieDie
There is no end to the death, no end to the never-ending tunnel. No light could pierce the darkness and no effort could hope to pull me out. 'I was stuck, forever to repeat the same over and over, till I wither into nothingness, until I break completely…'
Then, like a force from above, the figure appeared. The figures presence enough to washes away the dark. Its form exuded the light that scared away the death. It was warm, inviting, liberating, protective and most of all it was safe within the light. 'What could possibly be so brilliant? What could finally eradicate the cycle that had been my existence for so long? What could create such a powerful force? I had to know, I had to follow it and know who saved me. I had to know who-'
The slamming of my body against a hard surface finally awoke me from my vision.
/Snow POV/
"I-said-GET-OFF-OF-ME!" The shout was accompanied by the loud crash of my body slamming into the pristine floor below.
"Ahh, what tha' hell Lightning, I was just trying to get a little rest before the next fight. No need to give me such a rude awakening." I yelled back at the direction I'd been flung from, before I realized I wasn't were I was supposed to be. My mouth hung open as my eyes at what I was seeing.
"Finally realized it idiot?" The words were from Lightning once again, but seemed to lack there trademark edge I was used to hearing. I didn't dwell on that though, but rather the room we'd found ourselves in. The size was massive, the space was littered with extravagant accessories and embroidered furniture that seemed straight out of a rich man's weekly catalog. The room just gave off the feeling of extravagance regardless of where you looked. From the gold plated furniture, the embroiled picture frames or even the pristine marble floors. The room just felt royal, even the giant bed with a very pissed looking Lightning did nothing to detract from the chamber's elegance.
"You done gawking because we may be in a very serious situation and I can't have you staring at everything like a five year old!" this time Lightning's words had regained her trademark spark.
"Wait, you don't know why we're here ether light. And for that matter where is everyone else?" I had now stood up and begun to look around as I questioning Lightning.
"No I don't and unless you want to waste more time asking stupid questions I suggest we start moving out and looking for them." She got off the bed and made her way over to the only door in the room. I followed close behind as an idea popped into my head.
"Hey light, you think this could be another of Barthandelus' illusions?" I whispered to her in case he was listening.
"It's possible, but he's never tried one this big or elaborate. It could be anything, but we shouldn't discount it." She whispered back.
"Ether way I don't like it. I mean why would he leave us in a room like that, why not just continue on his crazed quest of sacrificing us for his god? Why stop now?" I whispered as we neared the door. At this point I noticed we both had our weapons on us, but didn't dwell on that fact for too long.
"Like I said I don't know, but what I do know is that Barthandelus isn't above cheap tricks, so keep your eyes peeled." She said as we both crouched next to the door to have a quick peak outside. With a silent turn of the knob the door opened just enough to see past the crack.
The first thing I noticed was how the room opened up to a long and vacant hallway that seemed to stretch on for miles. The walls were barren and gave way to multiple doors and passageways down the length of the hallway. A moment after opening the door a pact of figures rounder one of the diverging paths. Suddenly we heard the sound of multiple heavy footsteps coming from said hall, we stood still and began to observe the direction of the steps. The first to show were three bipedal figures that lead the group. They were slow and metallic, but moved with a defined weight to them. In sharp contrast the remaining figures were five floating hexagonal balls of unrestrained vitality. They levitated frantically and with no defined pattern, yet stayed within range of the others all the same. As I tried to get a better look the leading three, one of the figures caught a glimpse of us and began to make their way over. We shut the door quickly.
"Those what I think they were?" I asked Lightning.
"Yeah, a trio of Pulseworker Knights and a handful of Circuitrons. Seems like we are still under Barthandelus' thumb after all." She seemed a little sad, but not at all surprised by the revelation.
"Well we can't just stay here and wait to die again. We have to find everyone else before we can decide what to do next." It wasn't a plan, but it was a start.
"Fine, but were not sticking around to fight. We're going to bust out of here and make a run for it in the opposite direction." She looked like she didn't want to waste time arguing.
"What if they're on the other side of the hallway too?" I asked concernedly.
"…We'll burn that bridge if we come to it." She answered.
"Well alright then, plan as we go then. How'd you know it was my favorite?" I smashed my fist together while giving my best reassuring smile.
"Humph, idiot." She whispered as she readying her sword in case things went bad.
She acted cold, but after fighting together for so long I could read between the lines.
'She was scared, scared of returning to that dark tunnel. And who could blame her, it was terrifying to live only to please a deranged god with your death. It gave me some serious doubts, but I pushed those back and focused on the task at hand.' I was stopped by the jingling of the door knob. We both knew the plan, once the door opened we would rushed forward in hopes to catch whatever was on the other side off guard and then make a run for it. What happens after that is all up to "lady luck" as Sazh liked to say.
As the knob clicked and the door began to open, we decided it was time to make our move. Since Lightning was trained on how to surprise people when entering a room, so she led the charge ahead of me. As the door was half way open Lightning readied her weapon to slice the first thing to show its face. Once that was done the thing would be staggered long enough for us to get passed and make our escape. At least that had been the idea.
What neither of us expected to see was a young woman holding a tray of food in her hand to opening a door with a sincere and happy expression on her face. The shock had been so strong that neither Lightning nor I decided to stop running and slammed into the poor woman. With the force of an ex-member of SOLDER and all six feet seven inches of me plowing into the girl it was a bit jarring when we were the ones pushed back by the collision. Although the tray in the girls hand wasn't so lucky. From what I could hear the contents of said tray splashed onto the girls face.
"Ahh, hot soup, hot soup. Get it off it burns!" The woman cried as the contents of the tray covered her whole image.
"Oh Erdrick-sama, why?! Why did you have to make today spicy soup Sunday! Why?!" The girl was now rolling around on the floor wiping her eyes.
'Uh, I should probably do something about that, but first.' I took quick notice of the weight on my lap.
"Yo, Light, mind getting off so we can help." I called out, but she just shot me a glare.
"You idiot, can't you see she's also part of Barthandelus' forces. Why else would she not be attacked by those pulse constructs?" She spoke as she removed herself from me and readied her blade. I gave another look to the suffering girl and the spoke.
"You sure Light? Because I don't see this as any kind of threat." I point to the fact that the person had yet to even stop rolling around in agony.
"Dammit Snow, think for a second. Not only is she not being attacked, but she was also capable of pushing us both back at full charge. No regular person could have done that. Ether it's another pulse machine or its Barthandelus himself pretending to be this girl. Seriously, you haven't been this stupid in months." Her words hit me like a truck.
'She's right, there was no way this was just a regular person. It had to be another of his tricks, can't believe I almost fell for it.' I readied my fists.
"Feeling less paranoid I see. Must mean Erdrick-sama's power is working properly." Called the person on the floor, now having stopped her wailing.
"Who are you and where are we?" Threatened Lightning while brandishing her weapon at the prone figure.
"What? Did Erdrick-sama accidentally overdo it on you too? Well perhaps big sister Anima can help." The moment the woman spoke her name both Lightning and I fell to our knees while clutching our heads in pain.
'…The guild is a defense force to the realm of gods…'
'…This here is Anima, one of the…'
'… [Sleep][Stop][Era…' As the memories of the past painfully flooded back, the one thing that stood out amongst them was him. It was the figure as in his dream, the one that had saved them, the one that had allowed them to leave and I finally knew his name was…
"Erdrick." The words felt… natural leaving my mouth.
"Oh good, you remember Erdrick-sama. Now try me, come on what's my name?" She began asking me as if I were a newborn.
"Shut up Anima and tell us were our friends are." Lightning replied sounding rather irritated as she stood up.
"Well that's no way to treat your hostess, but I guess I do deserve it so I'll let it slide for now. Also if you want to find your friends follow me, I was just in the process of seeing if any of you were awake yet. I also brought hot soup if any of you were hungry, although perhaps having barged in before knocking was a bad idea. Who knows I might have walked in on both of you in bed again?" She gave a sultry smile as she began to make her way down the hall.
"What does she mean by that Light? Light you okay? You seem kinda red." She did not reply and briskly walked out of the room without a word.
'Women are weird' I thought, but didn't give it another thought and walked behind them.
.
.
.
After a few moments of walking through the hall in silence I decided to break the ice.
"So Anima, what's up with all the pulse tech hanging around, I thought these things were only seen on the ARK? So what gives, why are they here?" She continued at her pace, but still gave me a reply.
"The use of ARK armaments was issued by Erdrick-sama a few nights ago in order to preserve security. The ones you see here are only stationed here so they can act as warning system for any intruders in the guild. The stronger stuff is stationed on the empty Floors." She finished having not breaking her stride as she continued to wheel the cart full of food down the hall.
'So the pulse works are just a defensive measure, not one made by Barthandelus to keep us in line, I gotta say I'm relieved to hear that-WAIT, a few nights?!'
"How long have we been asleep for?!" I blurted out without thinking.
"It's noon now so I'd say… about a day and a half." She gave a cheery smile back at us.
To a regular person the time was substantial, but not something worry over. Yet to the two who heard it, it meant something spectacular. The same thought rushed through the heads of the two adults. 'It's actually over, the nightmares finally ended.'
Even as Anima continued without pause I noticed Lightning doing something with her hand. She seemed to be rubbing her face with it.
'!'
"Lightning, are you crying?" It seemed so out of place to see it. Sure I'd seen her cry before, hell we all cried during our time with Barthandelus, but to see her do it without a soul crushing defeat was just so… Bazaar.
She simply sniffled a little before the back end of her gun blade found its way into my gut and gave a halfhearted "Shut it Snow" before we continued on.
"See, that's the light I know." The banter may have continued had Anima not suddenly stopped in front of a pair of doors.
"Well looks like were here. You two sure your done making up? I can turn around while you kiss if you want, or would you rather I watch." She asked suggestively. Lightning's cheeks gained a pink hue to them as she reached for her weapon.
"Kidding, kidding, but seriously you two were so out of it. You didn't even notice all we've done is go in a circle." The teased.
"What?" was all I could get out?
"Yup, look your room is right behind you two." She pointed behind us and true to her word the open door with the soup stained floor was there.
"Why lead us around in a circle when we asked you to direct us to our friends." Lightning returned to her usual way of speaking rather quickly.
"Well after the soup got out of my eyes I could see that both of you had some fears still dragging you down. So I decided that a nice stroll through the halls may just alleviate those fears and guess what? I was right, so score one for big sis instincts." She held her hand up in hopes of getting a high five. She clearly had no idea who she was dealing with.
'She's right though. We needed that trip to see that were no longer in that situation anymore.' I smile at the girls repeated attempts to get praise out of the arm crossed Lightning.
"Fine, don't play along. See if I care Baka." Now she was crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks in a funny mimicry of Lightning.
"Can we see our friends now?" Questioned the annoyed Lightning.
"Oh right, that's why we're here. Now for this next part we have to be very quiet, they may still be sleeping so stay silent." She gave a shushing gesture as she slowly turned the handle on the door.
Once open I could see that the room was a near mirror image to the one we had occupied except the lights were turned off.
"Were are they?" I whispered to the brunet. She simply pointed to the bed at the end of the room. Her hand up to her mouth trying to stifle a laugh.
I strained my eyes to see past the shadows, but eventually they adjusted enough to let me see what she was talking about. There were a few figures laying on the bed.
'Looks like Vanille and Fang were given the same bed. Makes sense, them being sisters and all, but…' I looked harder at the strange lump in-between the two girls.
'…I-is that Hope?!' The more I looked the more the figure seemed to resemble the young teenager.
"W-"before I could get a word off a pair of hands cupped their way around my mouth. The strange part being it was Lightning's hands that had stopped me. Before I could mumble anything she shot me a stare that clearly said "talk and die", I decided best not to test the silent statement.
She seemed satisfied and gave a nod to the only other awake female there. After doing so Anima began to creep into the room as quietly as possible.
'Why though?' I gave a questioning look to Lightning, but seemed too engrossed in what Anima was doing to notice my questioning gaze.
At this point Anima was now right next to the three sleeping members and began to slowly reach her hand over to the youngest one. She grabbed the boys hand and placed it gently on one of the girl's chest. She then placed the remaining hand on the other girl's rear. After being done she scampered back to the entrance and pulled both of us out of the room before quietly closing it.
Finally once the obstruction was lifted I began to talk. "What tha hell was that for light? And what was with all that stuff Anima was doing?"
"Just shut up for a second and let her finish." She did not seem to care for my outburst and was simply contempt to keep looking at Anima. With a snap of her fingers the bottom of the door lit up, showed that the room lights had turned on. Next she gave the door a small set of knocks.
For a second nothing happened, but then a bit of rustling began to emanate from the room. The shuffling grew louder before-
"Eeek!" A shriek from Vanille was the first thing after the strange sounds.
"Wha- Vanille whats-"Then Hope was cut off by his own chocking sounds.
"Were tha hell do ya' think yer' touching twerp!" There was Fang.
"Wait- fang- a- sorry- I didn't mean-"Replied Hope through choked breaths.
"Yea I bet ya wern't menin to grope my ars' either tou little perv." Accused an angry sounding Fang.
Once the commotion started both Lightning and Anima decide now was the time to make there entrance through the door.
'Wait, where did they get those cameras from?' After entering I heard a lot of shouts from the room alongside the distinct sound of photos being taken. The shouting came mostly from fang asking what was going on. Hope was too busy begging Lightning for help to shout and Vanille was pleading with fang to let Hope go. Anima was just laughing the entire time. I also think I heard something from Lightning, but it must have been my imagination, Lightning doesn't giggle after all.
(Yawn)
"What's with all the racket out here? Don't you kids know I'm trying to sleep here?" I looked to my left to see Sazh lazily leaving another one of rooms.
"Sazh? You're awake too?" I looked over to the older man.
"No way I could have stay asleep with that racket going on next door. By the way, what is that racket?" he asked me.
I shrug. "Beats me, all I know is girls are weird."
"Just realizing that now kid?" The reply was accompanied by an angry chocobo attack and the cries of the older man for it to stop.
'It's strange, just two days ago we were almost all left wallowing in self-pity, but now we were all acting like none of that even happened. Even Lightning is acting a bit more energetic than normal… I this all really because of him? If so then we all owe him our gratitude and even if the rest won't, I'll become a Guardian if he'll let me, it's the least I could do if this is his doing.' At this point the shouting and pleading had gone down, so we decided it was about time we went in.
Inside we found a grudge match between Fang and Anima shouting about a camera, Hope on the ground gasping for air, Vanille was besides the boy trying to offer support and Lightning was off to the side acting like nothing was happening.
"What's this about a camera?" I asked.
"This bitch here decided to start taking pictures of our little predicament." Said Fang while trying to push the brunet back.
"Oh come on, you three looked so adorable sleeping together." The petit brawler just smiled while easily holding off the other girl.
"Oh yea, real adorable, until he started to get frisky with Vanille." She pushed harder.
"Yea, that was me too. I thought it be a fun way to get you three up. If anything I've been doing it for days now trying to get you up, but every time you two would just start cuddling harder. I just couldn't help myself." She said playfully.
"What?!" was all Fang got out before her rival decided to side step her and she fell to the ground. As Fang began to rise from the floor in anger, Sazh decide to step in.
"Alright, Alright, enough fighting, were in a strange enough situation as is. We don't need it getting any weirder. Let's just say whatever happened here didn't and move on." He said while steeping in between the two.
"What? But Sazh-Do you know who this is?" Blurted Fang.
"Yes and I also know that she isn't our enemy." Defended Sazh.
"How can you be so sure? It could just be Barthandelus again." She debated.
"Oh right I forgot. Hello, I'm Anima." Like with both Lightning and I, the three fell back down clutching their heads. In the mean time I decided to question Sazh on something that was bugging me.
"Hey Sazh, why aren't you effected?" I asked.
"I was the first one to wake up. Same reason she knows her name is the trigger to our memories." He replied.
"Yea, when I first entered his room I got shot at. It was only after I explained who I was did he finally stop. It still hurts you know." Complained the Guardian while rubbing her head.
"Hey, I said I was sorry, but seriously who thinks it's a good idea to barge into someone's room yelling "Do you still remember" while flailing your arms all over the place. Lucky you're too tough to die from the shot." She crossed her arms and turned away at the accusation. By now the other three had recovered from their memories.
"So, you three good?" I questioned the three. The two younger ones gave a nod, but Fang wasn't so satisfied. She held out her hand in a forceful asking gesture. Anima gave a sigh before handing over a compact camera she had in her robe. Fang easily crushed the device before she gave the owner a mocking smile.
"Yup, I'm good now." When she turned around Anima seemed to give a quick wink to Lightning who gave a subtle thumbs up.
"Well if were all on the same page now. How does a nice dinnertime meal sound?" Asked the energetic Guardian.
(Growl)
A resonance of stomachs answered the question for us. "Well that's a yes if I've ever heard one. Just give me a sec to get the food, be careful though it's a bit spicy." She said as she happily skipped out.
Once she returned we spent the next twenty minutes eating and talking. The exchange felt odd after our time with Barthandelus, but definitely not an unpleasant experience. By the end we were all laughing and enjoying ourselves, until Fang brought up her dream.
"Wait? You saw the figure too Fang?" I called out.
"Yea, I did. It felt a lot like back when we got our focus. Except it felt kinda nice, not even intrusive." She said while playing with her spoon.
"Anyone else see it?" I questioned the rest. A resounding nod came from the group.
"Then you all know about the light. That feeling it gave off." Another set of nods.
"So you all remember Erdrick-sama's power." All eyes turned to the talking brunet.
"You know what that feeling was?" I questioned her.
"I do, but here's the thing. I still need to report to Erdrick-sama, that your all awake, so how's about we walk and talk on the way over." She motioned for us to follow her as she left. We quickly gathered our weapons and followed behind her.
"To answer your question yes, that feeling of safety and serenity your all having is from Erdrick-sama." She had a leisurely walk backwards as we traveled.
"What, is that some form of mind control he's using." Accused Sazh.
Anima shook her head. "No, it's just how all humans feel around our Lord. He is after all the King of humanity."
"King of Humanity?" I questioned.
"It's the title Erdrick-sama received for being the only person alive to reach his level of strength without sacrificing any of his humanity." She said.
"What does that even mean and what does it have to do with our dreams or how we feel." I asked having sped up a little.
"How do I explain this…? Erdrick-sama is the shining beacon to humanity. He is the single strongest human to ever exist. The feeling you get is form being so close to him, even if you don't know it, your body recognizes his power and gives you that feeling of safety. He is the peak of all humans, with that might he has tamed creations beyond understanding and returned to be our king." She began to praise her lord with a serious face before she gave a sigh.
"Yet, he doesn't see it as such, if you ask him he will deny it. He will say that he isn't the strongest, he states there are beings far beyond him. Even so I know, I know he is the most powerful pure human to ever exist. That is why we serve him. That is why you can trust him so willingly because deep down you all know, he is the one king that all humanity should follow." Anima's speech had grown passionate as she went on, but she didn't seem to care.
"So it's just how powerful he is that you follow him?" I questioned.
"We respect his power, but we are each loyal to him for our own reasons, yet we all agree, he is the only one to rule. Even Barthandelus sees this and follows Erdrick-sama, even more faithfully than Kall in some cases. It's not about his power, but rather the person Erdrick-sama is, he is the rightful king." She seemed so sincere in her statement I couldn't outright argue it.
A large remainder of the trip was filled with silence as we all thought over what she had said.
'So that feeling is this whole King of Humanity thing? Is this all a trick to get us on his side? Should we really be exposing ourselves to that power?" the million questions swirling in my mind were stopped by Anima's next words.
"Although don't get it wrong. Even though our king could turn humanity into his puppets with his ability, he prefers to let people make their own decisions on whether or not to join him. Even if none have joined him because of their pride he still refuses to use it on them. The only reason he used it on you six is because the ability also has a sort of healing effect on humans within range, be it mental or physical. Him having kept it active was to make it easier for you to trust him, he used it save you from your fate. Erdrick-sama is a king by virtue, one we would gladly die for, yet one that would do the same for us if asked." She said the end rather solemnly.
'She really cares for him doesn't she? Even if it's a trick we all still owe him our lives and the least I could do is see what kind of person he is before I decide what to do.' I cleared my mind of anything else and focused on following Anima.
We had a few lighter conversations with Anima throughout the trip, mostly about Erdrick. Eventually we reached the room we had been looking for. Anima called it Erdrick's official study. She said we weren't allowed to touch anything while inside and that our meeting time with him might be short because of all the work he had to do. With a small set of knocks on the door a voice from the other side responded.
"Enter" Once said she pushed the heavy looking double doors open.
The room was unlike the ones we had been resting in. This one was closer to a library and a large one at that. The main entrance of the room was circular and lead off in both directions into what looked like a labyrinth of books. The central room had a single desk in the middle, the furniture was covered in books to the point they almost threatened to spill over the edge. It was a rather impressive room, but something was missing, something that was rectified quickly by Anima.
"Erdrick-sama, I'm here to report that your guest have woken up and are here to see you." Called the Guardian.
"Thank you Anima, would you please stand outside. I have a privet matter that I need to discuss with them… alone." The voice emanated from the other end of the pilled books.
"Don't I even get a thankyou kiss Erdrick-sama?" Wined the girl. "Come on, I'll even let you decide where to put it." She replied with a sultry tone.
"I might have Anima, but you went opposed to my orders of contacting me once they awoke. Thus you get nothing as a punishment." Reprimanded the voice.
"B-But, but-"
"No "Buts" you knew your orders. Now go and help Kall before I decide on an actual punishment."
She stomped her foot lightly before she made her way out the door, closing it behind her. When the click from the room rung out a pair of scrolls burst from behind the pile of books and erupted into flames. Once they vanished completely the sound of a chair being moved rang out as the figure behind the desk stood up.
'This is it, time to see if that feeling from before is really him.' I mentally prepared myself for that feeling, but it never came. What did come was what looked to be a faceless man walk out from the side of the pile wearing an oversized hooded cloak.
'Huh?'
"I'm glad to see you're all doing okay. I hope the accommodations were to your liking." The figure spoke as if it knew us but…
"Do we know you?" I questioned.
"Huh, of course you do. Why ask?" The figure seemed confused.
We were all confused so we stared harder. Yet whenever I tried I couldn't get a definitive picture of the persons face or anything aside from his general body shape. The first to speak up was Fang.
"Alright kid enough funny business who tha' hell are ya'?" Questioned the spear user.
"Oh right, sorry I forgot I still had this thing up, glad it works though." At the words we were all on guard, but the figure continued on by griping its hood. The second the hood came off the image underneath shocked everyone.
"Erdrick?!" We all yelled out.
"I am so glad I decided to set up those deafening scrolls before I came out." Erdrick spoke as he massaged his ear.
"Dude what tha' hell, what happened to you? Why are you so… young?" I wasn't the only one with the question it seemed. All the members seemed to want the answer too, especially Vanille for some reason.
He seemed confused and pulled a mirror out of nowhere before answering. "What are you talking about? I've always been this age, even when we met I was like this." He said.
"Are you sure because I sure remember you being much older, yet…." It felt strange I could remember him being grander, but at the same time something was telling me he was right. He didn't actually look any different.
'Dammit what tha hell is going on?'
"I think I know what's happening here. You see this cloak is very special, it has the ability to conceal my presence and stop ALL outgoing and incoming effects." For a while none of us understood why he would bring up the cloak, but then we remembered something.
'King of Humanity!' All our eyes widen at the implications of his words.
"From the looks you're all giving me I can assume Anima already explained at least something about [King of Humanity]. If that's true then that means I can continue." Before anyone could recover the cloaked Erdrick gave a knee and held his head down.
"I apologize for what I have done, please forgive me!" The combination of revelations left us with nothing to say.
""What?"" Was the only thing we could get out?
A/N: Well there it is, my first filler chapter. Not sure if I did the whole "Not necessary to read" thing correctly, but time (And reviews) will tell. Like a said in the previous A/N the real chapter will be posted for all those that don't care for filler. Speaking of next chapter…
Onto the upcoming chapter discussion. Next we get to see what Erdrick's been doing these last couple of days. Also what that conversation between Barthandelus and Kall was in the last chapter. What could it mean? Why Is Erdrick in the library of the guild? What is King of Humanity and was using it on the group entirely for good reasons? This and more on the next chapter.
Thank you for reading and if you review, extra thanks for that too.
Till next time readers.
P.S. What do you readers think of these semi-chapters? Do you like them? Should they stop? Am I weak for being unable to leave them out? Tell me via review or PM.