Not gonna lie, a bit of an experimental chapter here.
I mean, IF is, for all intents and purposes, a human. Ya'll think her mind would've been fine after the time jump? Nah, she's broken, and the cracks are beginning to catch up to her now.
Anyways, enjoy!
[11] - Re: Dive
There was a garden once.
They said it was most beautiful. They said it was the place where faeries lay, where all magic came, and where all shall return to. It was a garden of life and memories, grown and DeSTroYed aNd lEft ALonE fOrGOttEn.
pITifUL. HOw tRUly pITifUl.
IF groaned. What happened? Her head felt like it'd been slammed by a road roller and more. She opened her eyes, and winced. Everything felt too bright. She pressed a hand over her eyes and whispered.
"Green Noah."
Relieving magic washed through her and she sighed in relief. She didn't feel so horrible anymore.
Now then, where was she?
She pulled her hand away, and stopped. She'd expected to find herself inside some sort of factory; that was the building she'd slammed her bike into after all, but she was lying over…a bed of white lilacs?
No, not just a bed of lilacs. She'd been sleeping over an entire garden of white lilacs, gently swaying as she stood up. The garden was floating over an endless void, and the skies were painted a warm orange, as if the skies were perpetually stuck in a sunset.
Where the hell was this?
There wasn't anything aside from the flowers below her. The horizon beyond the little floating garden was empty. She took a peak at the void below her, and pulled away. She wasn't afraid of heights, but looking at that endless void felt…wrong, in a sense. It felt as if it'd suck her in if she stared long enough.
…
She peaked over the edge again. The void stared back, and she withstood the urge to pull back. It felt like her heart was being squeezed. She kept watching.
Why don't you jump?
IF jerked back, cold sweat trailing down her neck. For a moment, it felt as if something was pushing her, urging her to leap down. She shook slightly. She felt cold all of a sudden. The warmth she felt when she woke up was gone now.
She walked back to the spot she'd been sleeping on, pressing a hand over her chest as she sat down on the bed of pink lilacs. The wrongness of it all still weighed on her, the little voice-
She stopped and looked down. She blinked. Weren't the lilacs under her white? When did they turn pink?
IF looked around. The other lilacs were still white. Only the lilacs under her had turned a bright pink. They seemed livelier as well, the green of their leaves and stems brighter than the others. Why? Was it because she'd slept on it?
No. If that was the case, then all the lilacs she'd stepped over would turn pink, and they hadn't. Something else had happened to these ones, something she didn't-
Her eyes widened. That's right. She'd used Green Noah on herself, didn't she? Did her healing skill heal these lilacs as well?
Standing up, she held her hand out. A flash came from her hand, and shards of green light began to descend from the air. The shards touched down on the lilacs, and the flowers glowed before they turned a bright pink.
She didn't know what this meant. She wasn't sure if this would even do anything. But what choice did she have?
So she went around the floating garden, casting Green Noah on the flowers. The colors of the garden slowly shifted as more and more flowers turned a lively pink.
Green Noah reached 100% because of it, funnily enough, but she'd save that for next time.
The entire thing drained half of her SP, and a lot of time. Green Noah was a fairly strong healing skill, but its casting time was its drawback. It's why Cross Impact was so good. It took barely a second for her to cast.
That aside, had anything changed? IF looked around and found nothing different, aside from the changed flowers and all. She grimaced. Had nothing really changed?
…
That was fine, she supposed. Just having these flowers glow with such life was nice on its own. She smiled slightly. This entire place reminded her of that little garden Neptune decided to make once. It eventually fell into disrepair, but she could still remember how much Neptune liked spending her time there.
They'd just sit together, surrounded by flowers as they ate and drank, talking and laughing over inconsequential things.
…She missed those days.
We all do.
IF flinched, frantically looking around. There was no one around her. She frowned. She was sure she'd heard someone speak. Who'd that been?
We miss them. We miss you.
She stilled. It…wasn't just a single voice. It was like someone had taken a single line and stacked them over one another hundreds of times. Slowly, she looked at the flowers around her. Could the voice belong to the flowers?
It sounded absurd, but she'd seen weirder things.
They had left. You were alone. You left. We were alone.
…Was that so? It was odd. This was the first time she'd seen these flowers, the first time she'd found herself standing atop this floating garden. And yet-
Why did it feel like she'd known these flowers?
We were sad. We were alone.
But you came back. She too came back, but her heart is lost.
Her eyes widened. She came 'back'? Were they talking about her jumping back in time? Wouldn't that mean these flowers knew her from before? And 'she'? Who was this other person they were talking about? What did it mean by her 'heart' being 'lost'?
She wanted to ask, but her voice refused to come out.
So many came. So many went.
Their hearts beat as one.
Suddenly, static filled her mind, and IF fell to her knees. Memories, familiar yet not, rushed through her eyes. Each image was strung together haphazardly, and her mind bounced around with no purpose. It hurt. It hurt to remember.
She remembered so much. She'd forgotten just as much.
It hurt.
The hymn of the stars plays for your ReBirth
We will wait for you.
We will wait.
The voices suddenly vanished. "W-Wait…!" She managed to say, the static in her mind growing louder and louder. She reached her hand out.
Her vision went white.
Slowly, her eyes opened. The garden she'd been in was no longer there, instead replaced by metal platforms suspended over a giant gaping chasm. It looked suspiciously like the inner portion of Virtua Forest, except the trees weren't as vibrant, and looked oddly artificial.
And not only that, the air felt…off, different from the dampness she'd expect forests to have. It felt heavier, and she could almost feel it clinging onto her skin.
It felt like that strange sub-dimension in Darkness 60.
IF frowned. Did that mean that the building she busted through led to a sub-dimension? No, if that was the case, then all the workers would've disappeared. Which meant that the sub-dimension was placed there intentionally.
…
She'll leave those thoughts for later. For now, she had to find a way to break these vines around her arms and legs. Their hold on her was tight, and she couldn't even move a finger.
…If physical force didn't work, maybe heat would?
The SP in her right arm became excited, and lightning began to form around it. The vines held on for a moment, before they burned up and turned to ash. IF quickly doused the lightning and sighed. There was a reason why Spectral Flash wasn't meant to be used by hand. Her hand felt awful.
Not that it mattered. With one hand no free, she grabbed an iron knife and began sawing the rest of the vines. It took her a bit, and it broke three knives, but she managed to free herself in the end. Ah, but her body ached horribly though. She wondered how long she was kept in that position.
She shook her head. This wasn't the time. Cave was probably trapped as well. Pulling out a new pair of knives, she began exploring. There wasn't anything around her at the moment, but that could change in an instant.
And it did.
"...!" She quickly ducked behind a fence. A strange wooden bird…thing had suddenly popped into existence, and she'd nearly run into it.
Cold sweat poured down her neck. That little wooden bird was far stronger than the Fenrisulfr. It wasn't as strong as the Flame Fenrir, but it was still far stronger than any other normal monster she'd encountered. The sheer weight of its magic was frightening.
She…couldn't fight that thing. Her SP was still drained from before, and she didn't have a weapon she could fully rely on.
So she waited with bated breath, waited until the thing left. The wooden bird remained unmoving, staring emptily at the air, before it finally turned around and began to hop away. IF let herself breathe.
This wasn't good. For how strong Cave was, if this entire place was crawling with monsters of that level, then Cave would stand no chance.
She began moving. She could see monsters beginning to pop into existence, most just as strong as the wooden bird she'd nearly fought. Some were stronger, and there seemed to be something insanely strong in the distance. She didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, the weight it carried was beyond monstrous.
She could visibly see the air vibrating because of it, and that was never a good sign.
She kept exploring. She couldn't see Cave anywhere, but that didn't mean much. She could be imprisoned in some far corner of the dungeon-
An idea suddenly popped into her head, and she stopped. Would the tracker she placed on Cave's phone still work? She wasn't connected to the internet anymore, but there could still be a chance, right-
Holy Neptune, it does.
IF stared at the blinking red dot on her phone's map. The tracker still worked, without internet. The map was empty, but the tracker was working. H-How did that-, how? That meant the tracker worked without needing the internet!? What kind of amazing technology was that!?
IF smiled wryly. If it worked, it worked, she supposed.
Now with directions, she continued exploring, swerving around monsters as she closed in on where the blinking dot was.
She stifled a small laugh. Now that she knew where she was going, this entire thing felt like a stealth mission. Neptune would rage immediately.
After what felt like hours of crouching, she finally closed in on the blinking red dot. She placed her phone back into her inventory, and grimaced. She did find Cave, but…
Just like she'd been, Cave was suspended by a tangled mess of vines, wrapped tightly around her limbs. Except, IF could clearly see patches of black and purple forming on her skin, pulsing menacingly. Though unconscious, Cave's breaths were labored. She looked to be in pain.
IF grit her teeth. Viral corruption. Something that happens when someone is exposed to large doses of Negative Energy. It'll slowly weaken the infected, slowing their thoughts before killing them from the inside-
She froze. The vines weren't anything special, which meant that it was the air that was filled with Negative Energy. If so, why wasn't she being infected?
…
Something to ask Vert later. She had to cut these vines down.
Three iron knives later, Cave was freed from her captivity. IF couldn't help but grimace however. Her corruption looked bad enough from afar, but now that she could inspect her directly, she could see just how far the corruption had spread.
Patches of black stretched all across her limbs, and the entire left side of her torso had turned an ominous purplish black. It wasn't pretty.
But what could IF do? Her Green Noah didn't heal corruption; not that she'd expect it to. Viral Corruption was cured with Share Energy, and that wasn't something a human could normally have access to. She had to get Cave to Vert.
How would she do that? She was stuck in a sub-dimension, in some dungeon she never knew about. How would someone escape? Did this sub-dimension even have an end? Would it stretch forever?
Could they just break out? How would that be done? If they did that, then monsters would come rushing, and she doubted she'd be able to survive long.
This small corner didn't have any monsters, so they should be safe. IF had several packets of food stored in her inventory, so they could survive for a while. But for how long? She was assuming the monsters wouldn't come here, but what if they did?
She didn't know what to do.
She couldn't do anything.
Useless. HOw UsELesS.
…
She took a deep breath. Maybe that was so. Maybe she couldn't do anything against those monsters. Maybe she couldn't heal Cave. That was fine.
She was an adventurer. She'd be a failure if something like this would defeat her. If the path towards survival didn't show itself, then she just needed to make one herself.
She pulled out Soul Blazer. Her trusty bike, once destroyed and then reborn anew, reborn better, different. She smiled.
Keeping an unconscious person seated upright in the back of a bike was harder than IF initially thought. She ended up needing to tie a rope around them to keep Cave upright. She then tied another rope, this one between her and the bike. Just in case something happened.
She took a breath. On the scale from sane to Neptune, her idea was a full-on Neptune. But this situation needed desperate measures.
She just hoped Neptune was watching.
Blowing out her breath, she kicked Soul Blazer to life. Its engine roared, and every monster nearby turned to her. She could hear them approaching, the platforms ringing as tens of monsters rushed her all at once.
She took another breath, and drove forward, flying off the platform. Gritting her teeth, she angled her bike straight downwards. Just as she was about to slam onto the wall, she pressed a button, and spikes came out of the wheels.
Clang!
She flinched at the impact, and then grinned. She was sticking on the wall of the chasm, and the monsters had no way to reach her.
And then, she saw a giant dragon approaching, and her grin fell.
So that was the crazy strong monster she'd been feeling.
She had a choice now. Drive upwards or downwards. Above was the ceiling of the sub-dimension. She didn't know if she could break past. If she couldn't, she'd be stuck with a giant dragon chasing her back.
If she went downwards…who knows.
…
Kicking her engines into gear, IF began driving downwards, the spikes of her wheels digging into the walls as she descended. Cries of the monsters slowly faded away, and soon she was left with nothing but the sounds of her engines, roaring away as darkness surrounded her.
She tried turning on the headlight, but she saw nothing. The void below was endless.
IF kept driving, keeping her descent slow. She didn't want to suddenly break her wheels away from the walls and fall off.
She kept driving and driving, descending further and further into the abyss. The humming of her bike engine accompanied her the entire way, a comforting, consistent presence. Her wheels continued to crunch away.
She wasn't sure how long it'd been. It could've been hours, maybe even days. She could feel her arms slowly weaken. She could feel fatigue slowly catching up to her. But she refused to sleep. She couldn't. Not until she reached the end, if it existed at all.
So she kept going and going and going. The darkness grew ever more.
And then, she saw a small glimmer in the distance, and her eyes went wide. There was something there. She could see it glowing, a small yellow glow.
She kept driving, and soon she saw…stars?
She blinked. Her bike finally touched down on something, but when she looked down, all she could see was a dark sky full of stars. She frowned slightly. Either the ground was just transparent, or the bottom of this abyss was literally a sky full of stars.
She wasn't sure which made more sense.
She gave the 'ground' a couple kicks. Her wheels could stand on it. Her legs could touch it. It was clearly real. It didn't make it any less uncomfortable. With a grimace, she untied the ropes around her and got off her bike, careful not to let the sleeping Cave fall off. That done, she slowly approached the glow.
It's strange really. She was clearly walking on something, but her steps were silent. It felt like she was dreaming, but she knew she was awake.
The glow grew and grew, and she found herself standing directly before it. It was an orb of light, gently boiling and bobbing as it shined. She could feel it calling her, urging her to move forward.
She didn't. Not yet.
Something about it was bugging her. There was something strangely familiar about it. She…couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she could've sworn she'd stood before something similar in the past. What was it?
She frowned. This entire thing was fishy. She got trapped inside of a sub-dimension, drove down into the abyss, and then found this. And now it was asking for her to grasp it? The suspicious levels were going through the roof.
And yet, she felt like she needed to take it, as if this was something she once had.
…
She stepped forward.
