Oliver yawned again, barely staving off the desire to rest his head on the table and close his eyes. Across from him, Max and Helga, who had been so kind as to let him sit with them during breakfast, chatted away, doing as couples did. At the moment, Oliver was content to remain a third-wheel, upset as he was.
He was still reeling at the fact that everything was real. NexusTech. The monsters. Colt and Tsune. The ship. The settlement. The gods, the Order, Valor, mamono, demihumans. When he woke up, he thought it was all a dream at first. He wasn't quite emotionally prepared for the realization that he wasn't in a tent, and he definitely hadn't gone on a road trip recently.
As shocked as he was, he managed not to panic knowing that it would only lead to self destruction. Honestly though, it felt like he should have panicked. He was stuck. He was stranded. Far from home. Far from life. Worlds away from everything he'd ever known. Any normal person would have panicked, right?
Maybe it was because he'd already accepted reality. The cards had been dealt, and as unfair as they were, he had no choice but to play them. But how would he play such a dead man's hand?
What could he do in another world like this? Where his identity had no meaning and all of his accomplishments were null? How could he adapt? How could he get home?
Well first, it started with a bath in boiled lakewater, then it was followed up by breakfast, and during breakfast? Some heavy introspection.
The programmer stared off into the distance as he took a slow bite out of his toast, not really registering the taste or sensations in his mouth. He thought deeply about his situation, and what had happened the day before. He remembered what he told himself the other night. The morbid thoughts he had about how vulnerable and out of his depth he felt. How hopeless and pessimistic he'd been about everything.
Subconsciously, he squeezed his toast. That just wouldn't do. Mindset matters, and if he wanted to get through this, he needed to quit it with the self-destructive thoughts and push on.
It was fair of him to be wary. He expected great challenges and hardships coming in the near future. But to be so pessimistic as to lose all hope of going home straight away? If he thought like that, he'd have lost the battle before it'd even begun. No. That wasn't the way forward. Yesterday, he'd just been too shocked to think otherwise.
Where there's a will, there's a way, and he definitely had the will and incentive to live and find a way home. He had too much to lose.
He'd worked too hard, went to school and got his Master's in Computer Science, he'd studied machine learning and artificial intelligence in order to compete in an increasingly competitive world of technology, he'd worked with his father and minored in electrical engineering to understand the intricacies of hardware, ASICs to FPGAs, he'd just gotten out of school and now had the tools and ambition to be a creator, involved in great things, in possibly building the future. And then suddenly he has everything he'd ever done torn away from him in the blink of an eye like that?
Hell to the fuck no he wasn't giving up! Not after all of the shit he'd done to get to where he was! To lose hope so early would be to lose all of that. Earth and everything on it, including his friends and family, would be gone.
No. Just no.
Oliver could feel the fire building within him as his fists clenched. Getting home might seem like a daunting task—and it would be, he had no delusions about how difficult it would be. But really, the method he found best for long-term projects such as these was to set a goal for himself everyday and work towards that goal. One goal a day on a pilgrimage of thousands, and eventually, he'd reach his main goal.
The only question was, what would today's goal be?
"Uhh, Oliver?"
"Muh?" Oliver snapped out of his motivational reverie, his mouth half-full of toast when he heard Max calling out to him. He looked at the raccoon-eared man with wide-eyes, having completely forgotten where he was for a moment.
Max looked concerned, as did Helga. "You…crushed your toast."
Oliver blinked, then dropped his squashed bread on his plate. Oops. That was a little embarrassing. He chewed and swallowed quickly, then wiped his hands with a napkin. "Sorry, I was thinking about something."
"Must have been something pretty intense," Max mused. "You okay?"
"Yeah. It's nothing bad. I'm just…trying to figure out what to do is all."
"Aren't you going back to the city? You probably have some important engineering stuff to do right?" Helga asked, curiosity written on her face.
Oliver shrugged. He thought for a second. "Actually, at the moment, no, not really. I'm…unemployed right now to be honest. I need to think about some things before making any decisions. Honestly, why leave so soon? This place is keeping me fed and giving me a place to sleep, so I might as well stay for a bit."
It was true. Even if he was more motivated than before, he still wasn't sure how to start on his quest to find a way home. He'd have to go over what he knew before doing that.
"Oh, that's how it is…" She looked down at the table, as if debating whether to ask something, then she finally looked back at him, a nervous expression on her face. "Well, there's plenty of work here if you need it…can you do magic?"
"What?"
"I-I was just wondering, you know?" she added quickly. "I heard that some of the elite engineers can do really cool magic. I was thinking, what if you could use that kind of magic to build things faster?"
Oliver's expression morphed into confusion. 'Engineers do magic?' He recovered quickly. "I mean, I wish. But no, I can't do magic. If I could, I would help." He paused as he realized something. "Now that I think about it, if this settlement was commissioned by…Gallant," he recalled the city name, "then why didn't they send any engineers themselves?"
"It's because…hey, yeah! Why didn't they send any engineers?" Max frowned. He turned to his girlfriend.
She looked at him with a flat expression. "You didn't read the briefing, did you."
Max scratched the back of his head.
"Let's have a rundown then," Helga sighed. She cleared her throat. "From what I remember, the Noble Council of Gallant authorized the construction of five new towns to the north of the Gallant territory, all in strategic places that would be easy to defend and good for the economy," she explained, opening her hand and splaying her five fingers to emphasize. "We are here at the fifth one because it has no Chaos or Distorted presence. All of the other ones are being fought for by the military because of Chaos and Distorted. However!" She raised a finger, "Even if this area is the safest of the five, they had to make sure there weren't any threats they missed, so we were sent out to test the waters and start farming operations. If everything goes according to plan, and there are no Chaos or Distorted to be found by our scouts, then they will send more settlers, engineers, and even the Gallant Regional Guard to secure the area."
Oliver was surprised by her answer. 'Huh. A lot more thought out and bureaucratic than I thought. And what the hell is Chaos?'
Max, on the other hand, stared at her in disbelief. "...We were sent out here as bait?"
"What? No!" Helga argued, offended. "We're on a mission to make sure the area is safe, that's all."
"Sounds like we're being used as bait to me."
"Yeah, I gotta agree with Max," Oliver said. "Why not just send out the Regional Guard here to sweep the area clean?"
"If you read the briefing," she gave Max a pointed look, "you'd know that the Regional Guard only deals with areas considered Valorean territory, and since this area isn't our territory until the noble council says it is, they won't come here. Also, the military is still occupied dealing with the other four areas. And it's not like we're defenseless either. We have like ten adventurers and even a couple sentinels to protect us. We'll be fine."
Oliver nodded. He supposed that made sense. "Hmm, so are you getting paid to be out here, or…?"
"Yes actually. We'll also be the first residents of the new town when it's built in a few months!"
"That's weird," Oliver hummed. "Usually you'd have to pay to live somewhere, not the other way around," he joked.
"That's what you get when you volunteer for something that could be life threateningly dangerous," Helga smiled.
"Life threateningly—how did I not know about this!?" Max cried, grabbing his girlfriend by the shoulders.
"Oh, calm down, Max. Like I said, we have plenty of people here to protect us."
"But what if-"
Inevitably, as he was third-wheeled once again, Oliver slowly tuned them out and drew into his thoughts. His mind was stuck on what Helga had said about engineers being able to do magic. He wondered, did engineer mean something different from what he was envisioning? If not, could he, a programmer, a person from a completely different world, learn magic like them? He recalled seeing the various displays of magic he witnessed yesterday, both combat and utilitarian, and the idea appealed to him more than ever.
His thoughts circled back to that question of what today's goal would be, or at least, what he should focus his time and energy on. He considered what he knew. Right now, he didn't know much, but he did know something very important to his ultimate goal, and it came from Colt's history book. It read that the Order Kingdom once used powerful magic to summon beings from other worlds, didn't it? Didn't that mean it was certainly possible for magic to send people to different worlds?
'Magic, huh? I can't believe I'm even considering it, but that's the only lead I have on a way to get home! I need to know more.'
By the time the workday started, the concrete foundations had dried, but not cured—at least not enough to start building on them. But rather than start on the next five foundations like everyone else, Oliver was surprised when Arthur found him and pushed him into a large tent that featured a table, several filing cabinets, a stack of papers that needed reviewing, and—sitting just outside the tent—an actual military-looking radio box with a five-meter antenna. He supposed the technology shouldn't have surprised him much at all considering the airships and weaponry that seemed to be common.
It turned out that Arthur was actually the coordinator for all of the settlers here. His whole job was to ensure that nothing went awry until the second wave of settlers and government workers arrived. That meant he had access to radio communications with the city, which was actually two-hundred kilometers away. The radio used a secure line of village radio towers to reach the city, allowing Arthur to make reports and receive information from superiors. Oliver didn't know why the man didn't tell him that yesterday, but maybe it wasn't relevant then, because now Arthur saw fit to put his engineering skills to the test.
When Oliver realized that the stack of loose papers sitting on Arthur's table were blueprints drawn by the settlers themselves, he inwardly thanked Arthur for dragging him into the tent and putting him up to reviewing them, because some of the designs were the equivalent of hand-drawn OSHA violations.
"No, no, you can't—you can't build it like that," Oliver argued, emphasizing with his hands as he stood behind the planning table.
The disgruntled settler across from him crossed his arms scornfully. "And why not, mister engineer?"
"Look man, I'm just trying to help." He grabbed a pencil and pointed at the rather lackluster designs that had been drawn up. "I get that you want a lot of open space right here for storage, but with the way you've drawn the next floor and the roof above that? You need a support column either here, or here. That, or you add a load-bearing wall right here, and it doesn't even have to be a big one! Maybe just a little divider that you have a column inside of. If you don't, all of this unsupported weight will cause this whole section of the building to collapse in the future."
"Honey, I think we should listen to him. He seems to know what he's talking about," the man's wife said quietly, pleading with her eyes as she tugged on his arm.
The man scowled. "Yeah? How do we know for sure he's actually what he says he is? He has no proof. What if it's all just nonsense? He's trying to take away our dream home here!"
Oliver ran a hand through his hair. "Y'know what? You can choose if you want to listen to me. If it works out for you, great! If it doesn't, then all I can say is I told you so. Here." He reached across the table and offered the couple a pair of the house designs, one a redraw that he'd done. "At least consider it."
The man snatched it from his hands, then turned away with a huff while his wife gave Oliver an apologetic look. Oliver merely shrugged, then sighed as the two left the tent.
Earlier, he wondered why the settlers were even allowed to design their own homes if this was a government-run project, but now he understood that they were designing their dream homes. It was just too bad that some of their designs were terrible, and while he was there to review them for safety reasons, a lot of them didn't trust his claims of being an engineer. To be fair, he wasn't a civil or mechanical engineer, he was a programmer with a minor in electrical engineering, and some summer experience designing and building homes.
"Don't worry about him. I'll talk to him later," he heard Arthur grunt from where he was standing, sifting through some blueprints in the 'NEEDS REVIEW' pile.
Oliver gave the older man a sideways glance. "Eh, it doesn't bother me. He does have a point. I have no identification and I haven't really done anything to prove I am an engineer yet." He looked at the next house design, but paused, then turned to Arthur fully. "Actually, why do you trust me?"
Arthur didn't miss a beat or even look over. "Do you want me to not trust you?"
"Fair. Fair one." Oliver relented. He looked at the next house design which was actually much safer than most of the ones he'd done so far. With only a little bit of inspection, he placed it in the 'SAFE' pile and grabbed the next one.
It had been a few hours since breakfast, and after careful consideration, he was set on trying magic out and decided it'd be his first goal. Afterall, what else could he possibly do right now? Gathering more information and just learning more in general would come naturally with conversation and working, but he might as well get something done for his personal goals while he's here, right?
The only other options he had aside from learning magic was to go to a city, and while he could surely learn more over there, after thinking about it, maybe it was better to stay here for at least a few more days. First, if he tried to navigate the lands by himself, he would probably wind up dead by the jaws of some horrible monstrosity. Second, he was sure nobody here would be leaving anytime soon, so he would have to wait anyways. And third, he had no money and no identity, and this place was feeding and clothing him, so again, like he said to Helga, why leave?
Thus, he decided to stay and try to learn magic if he could. But how would he even go about learning magic? He supposed there would be a school for it, or something like that.
'Wait, why not just ask, idiot?'
He finished reviewing another blueprint and placed it in the correct pile before glancing towards Arthur. The man was looking at something else now. Something bureaucratic in nature, probably.
"Hey, Arthur?" he started tentatively.
"Hm?"
"If I were to want to learn magic…do you have any idea where I should go?"
The man stopped, then turned to Oliver with a genuinely confused frown. "...Aren't you supposed to be a scholar?"
'Oops' "Uh, well yeah, but I was only interested in engineering," he replied, playing it off. "Then I heard from Helga that some engineers use magic to…enhance their capabilities. I've never heard of that until today, and I can't really go looking around while I'm still here, right?"
Arthur seemed to think for a second. "...I wouldn't know anything about engineering magic specifically, but there are academies for magic. I do know that some people self-study if that helps. Anyone can do it, it's just some people have a knack for it. I don't."
Oliver nodded slowly. "...Do you know anybody here who could help me get my feet wet? Or would I have to go to a city for this type of thing?"
"You might be able to borrow some books from the folks around here if any of them dabble. I know that yuki-onna does, but she only does natural magic, I think. You could try asking that succubus if you're desperate, but I don't think she'll help you too much either. If you really want to learn, I suggest you wait for the Regional Guard to get here. They'll be able to take you back to the city in about two weeks, and you can go to a school there if you really want to."
"Ah, alright. Thanks for letting me know."
Oliver hummed in resignation. The chances didn't seem too good. He didn't want to be that guy, but he felt he could make an assumption on what type of magic succubi would be dealing with. The yuki-onna though? Well, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask both of them, just in case. He didn't have the money to go to a school anyways, and self-studying might be easier. Ah, fuck it. The only thing he had to lose was time, and he was sure he had plenty of that.
"...Actually, kid," Arthur said suddenly, making Oliver turn. Oliver was taken aback by the man's expression, which was suddenly all too serious to him. "You just confirmed something to me and…there's something I wanted to talk to you about. It's relevant, and part of the reason I dragged you in here."
Uh-oh. That didn't sound good. "Oh yeah? What's up?"
The man sighed. "You don't know magic, right?"
"Nope."
"And you haven't had your soul flame lit either, right?"
"Nope." 'Whatever that is.'
Arthur grunted. From what Oliver knew of him, he was a rather calm man, but it wasn't terribly hard to tell that he was debating something. "...Yesterday you told me that you're not from the Order kingdom, right?"
Oh. "Yeah, I've never been there."
"Do you ever plan on visiting?"
Oliver internally pursed his lips. If he wanted to learn about the Order's hero summoning, he'd have to go to the Order Kingdom eventually, right? He didn't know whether he should tell the truth considering the hate between the Order Kingdom and Valor.
"I mean…maybe to learn magic if I'm interested enough," he shrugged.
"You really shouldn't," Arthur sighed. He almost looked relieved. "I'm glad I brought this up with you. Don't trust the Order."
"What…? Why?"
"Because they're full of shit. They still follow the teachings of a dead god that wanted to wipe out three-fourths of all life. Nowadays, all demi-humans that visit the Order Kingdom are treated like rats. The mamono? Half of them disappear. Order claims it wasn't them, but who else could it be? Sometimes, we have human activists that go and try to change things. They come back screaming racists, or preaching the word of their new lord and savior."
"My wife's seen it all," Arthur continued. "She's from the Order Kingdom, you know? Being a mamono in a place like that…she's seen some things. Didn't live the best life…She's lucky she got out of that hellhole, and she'd rather do some really unpleasant things rather than go back. Thing is, what she experienced? You'll have it way worse, kid."
"What?"
"I've been holding off this question since yesterday, and I'm sure all of the mamono have been too, but…What are you, Oliver?"
"...What?" Oliver repeated.
Arthur gestured with his hands. "I mean, what race? What species?"
Oliver frowned, shrinking away from the question. "Uh…human, last I checked?"
Now it was Arthur's turn to make a face. The man looked like he received whiplash from Oliver's reply. "Really? You are?"
"Yeah. Human since the day I was born."
It was concerning to see the usually calm and collected man make so many faces in a short period of time. First, his lips moved in incomprehension, but eventually, the man's lips settled into an 'o' of realization.
"That…Oh. Oh no." Suddenly, Arthur looked very uncomfortable. "Uh, how should I say this…Oliver, you know how mamono have a keen sense of people's energies?"
Oliver shook his head. Where was this going?
"Well remember this, because all mamono do. And yesterday, when you got breakfast from Lorraine, she sensed you, and…well, you felt nothing like a human. Every mamono she asked agreed with her. You're…you're not a human, Oliver."
'Huh?'
"That's not all though. Lorraine…she's been through more. She's had run-ins with…holy elements in the past, and the feeling of their energies are burned into her skin. She nearly had a heart attack when she first sensed from you. She didn't show it, but she did because…you're the holiest-feeling angel she'd ever seen in-person."
What? What was he hearing? Oliver's face contorted at the man's words, which were all too serious for his liking at the moment. The things he was saying…they just flat out made no sense. "You…you're joking, right?"
"I know this may come as a shock to you, but…it is what it is. I was surprised too when Lorraine told me. I even asked her where your wings were, but apparently some angels can hide their wings. You're lucky that you're not an Order angel though, or we'd be having a very different conversation. Lorraine said your energy was holy, but it wasn't like those Order schmucks. It's like…you're from a different pantheon." The man shook his head and scoffed.
"I…y-you," Olver struggled. "W-Wait, wait, take a step back. How could Lorraine know? I mean, how can they sense that in me?"
"As she explained it to me, every living thing has a different…let's call it a frequency. Mamono can sense the mana in a person, their spirit energy, and the soul. The soul emits this frequency. According to her, you feel nothing like a human. She said you're…higher than that, is how she described it. She knows what angels feel like, and you feel closest to that, but…maybe even higher."
"Wha—? How is that possible?" Oliver inquired, on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Arthur merely shrugged. "I thought all the gods and their angels died a long time ago too. I guess maybe some lineages managed to survive. What pantheon you belong to though? You'll have to find out on your own."
"I'm an atheist though!"
"I don't know what else to tell you. It's just the way it is," Arthur said, shaking his head in resignation. "Again, I know this might all be shocking, but I had a point in telling you all of this. Tell me, have any mamono been watching you lately? Looking at you funny?"
Oliver thought back. So far? Aside from Tsune and maybe Layla and Natalie, not really. He shook his head. "If you haven't, then you better start paying attention, because you're eye-catching to them. Hard not to notice, and not in a good way. Most mamono have never been to the Order, so they don't know what holy energy feels like, and they don't know that's what they're sensing from you. It's probably why Layla said you were…weird in her own words."
"The problem is, the Order will know what you are. Don't ever go there, Oliver. For your sake, and maybe even the sake of everyone else you know. If you get lucky, they'll slaughter you on the spot for being a blight on their beliefs. If you're unlucky enough though, you'll disappear, and reappear with a different name, personality, and a suit of armor with a big heavenly stick to fight for your new god. You'll become like one of their angels of old…Lorraine's seen the conversion happen to humans. She had a friend who…" he shook his head. "It's not really my story to tell."
After a few seconds of tense silence, the man exhaled. "I, uh…that's all I wanted to address. I know it might be a lot to take in, but again, that's just how things are. You seem like a good kid, but you always look so lost. I felt like setting a few things straight."
"I...w-what am I supposed to do? You can't just drop a bomb like that and move on!" What else was he supposed to say to whatever the fuck that was?
"I'd encourage you to go ahead and learn magic, maybe even get your soul flame lit too. You might discover something about yourself you didn't know, and if you ever run into some Order thugs, you'll be prepared. Lorraine says you've got extreme potential in both anyways."
"I…alright."
Oliver bit his lip. An angel? He was a fucking angel!? What—no. No, that couldn't be right. He didn't believe any of that shit for even a second. But then, what did it all mean?
He stood there, his thoughts stewing like turning cogwheels. Could it be…did a divine being summon his entire workplace, and in doing so, ended up leaving residual traces of holy energy on him or something like that? If so, that was fucking insane! And maybe he felt different than a human to the species that could sense him because he wasn't a human from this world. Human was just a word after all. He could be an entirely different species from all the sapiens here! But then, Lorraine said he felt pretty much exactly like an angel! So how could that be?
He didn't disbelieve that Lorraine had gone through all of the horrific shit that Arthur claimed she did, but maybe she was misconstruing his aura with that of an angel's? Yeah, maybe that was it. Maybe she was wrong. She had to be, right?
Man, what the fuck was going on? New information just kept piling on, and none of it made sense. But no matter how hard he thought, answers wouldn't come to him for the rest of the workday.
After three hours of reviewing and revising blueprints, Oliver allowed himself a mental break—more or less to process everything Arthur told him, so he left the tent to check on the construction sites. When he arrived, it was just in time to remove yesterday's wood forms and pour concrete into the new plots, and since he wanted to take his mind off things for a bit, he decided to help out. It didn't really help that much since his hands moved on autopilot while his brain was intent on staying on the topic of his questionable existence, but eventually, the programmer decided, fuck it.
Did it really matter? It was definitely one of those conundrums that he wouldn't be able to solve in the short term on his own, and it probably wouldn't affect him that much so long as he didn't go anywhere near the Order as Arthur suggested, so why worry about it? In other words, it was something for the 'solve later' box.
By the time the physical part of his workday was done, it was time for lunch. He ended up enjoying the meal alone today, and by the time he left the cafeteria, it was around two o'clock. With little else to do other than read the history book or chat with strangers, he chose to focus on the topic that seemed to dominate his day.
'It's so sudden, but I guess I'm doing this,' Oliver thought as he walked around, looking for either the succubus or the yuki-onna. It was true that it was only his second day, and honestly it felt like he was jumping into an entire academic discipline as ill-informed about the topic as a middle-schooler would be about their future career. But hey! The faster he learned, the quicker he could maybe find a way home. And even if he didn't, knowing some amount of magic would expand his repertoire and make it easier for him to find jobs or create an identity probably.
He grimaced as he looked around however, catching the lingering gazes on him. 'Arthur was right…' There were only around twenty mamono around the camp total, but with every one he saw finding time to at least glance at him as he passed, it felt like the whole settlement was watching him. At least they weren't disgusted by his appearance or anything like that. 'I hope this doesn't make things more difficult.'
Oliver took the path from the cafeteria to the agricultural fields, then walked along the perimeter of the settlement looking around for the persons of interest all the while. He stopped when he reached the construction sites, his eyes locking onto a particular figure.
It was one of the women he saw in passing yesterday. Her hair was a silky black hair, and she had bat-like wings and a spade-tipped tail, each feature emitting a naturally naughty aura from her body. She wore a casual-but-risque outfit similar to yesterday's, and it did well to exhibit her sexy feminine figure. Seriously, he knew some women would kill for a body like hers, and she looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties. Unlike Amanda, who seemed like a friendly giant though, this woman stood with her weight on one leg and her hips cocked to one side with one hand on her hip in a pose that did things to people, Oliver included. Even if she wasn't the woman he was looking for, he'd have had to have stopped and peeked like a third-rate pervert because man.
Curiously, Oliver found her standing in front of an empty construction site holding a large sheet of paper in her unoccupied hand. Blueprints. His blueprints, as evidenced by the colors.
He wondered, was she the succubus? Again, he didn't want to be that guy, but her appearance certainly fit the bill of what he imagined.
"Hey. Uh, excuse me?" he tried.
The woman hummed in question, lowering the blueprint as she turned her head to his. Oliver had never seen a face so kind, yet sultry-looking before in his life. She smiled automatically as she greeted him.
"Hello—" the woman gasped abruptly. Her eyes lingered on his face for a second, then trailed up and down his body in a slow, deliberate way. "Well hello there~" she greeted friendlily.
"H-Hey. How's it going?" Oliver waved, now a little nervous and intimidated by her stunning beauty and mannerisms.
The woman smiled gorgeously. "Awesomely. These new designs are great. You're the one who drew this, right? The engineer Ms. Lorraine was talking about?"
Oliver nodded.
"Awesome." She stopped suddenly, realizing her anonymity. "Ah, where are my manners?" She put a hand on her chest. "I'm Vhesla, but you can call me V."
"Vhesla? Nice to meet you. I'm Oliver." He extended his hand respectfully. Vhesla seemed amused by the gesture, almost like it was childish, but she humored him anyway.
"Oliver, huh? Cute name," she said casually, making him flush slightly. Usually people liked to say his name was weak. Her eyes widened slightly when she took his hand. "Hmm. Potent mana you have there, Oliver. Ms. Lorraine wasn't kidding."
"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot recently. So…I just wanna ask, are you a succubus?" he inquired quickly, intent on being direct.
Vhesla giggled, the sound naturally intoxicating. "Why yes, I am a succubus~ What gave it away?"
Oliver shrugged. "It was just a hunch honestly."
"Your hunch was spot on, Oliver." She smirked mischievously, her eyes narrowing slightly as she leaned towards him. "Why do you ask…? Are you…interested?"
"I-I…" He was rendered speechless by the accusation, but before he could even recover, she sprung back.
"Sorry dude, but I'm taken," She teased, showing off the ring on her finger.
Oliver was horrified. He stammered, "I-I didn't even say anything!"
"I know, I'm just teasing," Vhesla laughed. "Gods, the look on your face was priceless! You should have seen it."
'Wow.' He made an upwards circling motion with his hands in exasperated confusion. "I…you…wow," he sighed, ultimately resting his hands on his hips as he deflated.
"Sorry about that. It's just always fun to tease the new guys. It doesn't ever take that much to make them crack."
"Yeah, I'm sure it is," Oliver rolled his eyes. "What a virgin, am I right?"
"Hey. There's nothing wrong with being a virgin, so don't even," she replied sternly. Oliver swallowed nervously when he saw how serious she was, all pretense of humor gone from her expression.
"Alright…" He shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly. "Anyway, onto why I asked if you were a succubus, if you don't mind?"
"Oh? So you do have a reason?"
"Yeah, I do. I wanted to see if I could do magic, and I was told you might be able to help me if I ask. So yeah, here I am."
"I see. Well that's a little spontaneous, don't you think?" Vhesla stated, tilting her head in her hand. "Ehhh, I'm not really a good teacher, and to be honest, it sounds like a lot of hard work. Also, most of my magic is for…y'know, bedroom stuff," she admitted rather shyly. "Those are things I can only show to my husband."
'Oh.'
"Hmm, I guess I do owe you for the redesigns," she hummed tapping her chin.
"Well I don't know about that, I was just doing my job," Oliver shrugged, but the woman ignored him.
"Okay! How about I help circulate your mana, and if you can do that, I'll teach you a few things as thanks for your hard work!"
"Really? I mean—sure! Yes! Affirmative! Let's do it."
Vhesla giggled again at his antics before she held out her hand. "Alright, give me your hand." He did as she said, and she took his hand with a loose grip. "Now close your eyes and feel."
He shut his eyes and waited. He listened, hearing all the background activities going on and waited. He breathed. Nothing happened.
"I don't think—oooooooooh…"
Something happened.
'Holy shit.'
Something intense happened, something flowed within his body alongside his blood, and it was indescribable. The feeling was incomprehensible to him almost, like trying to describe color to a blind man, or explaining what it felt like to walk to a man who was born without legs. It was simply impossible. But it was his. Like he suddenly had an extra arm or leg that he'd never known was there, never knew was there until somebody touched it, sending electrical signals of feeling to his brain.
"Feel that?" Vhesla asked quietly. He could hear the excited smile in her voice. "That's your mana. It's awesome, isn't it?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Grasp onto that feeling and never let go, Oliver. Try moving it around."
He did as he was told. It was mind-boggling, the way he was able to push to different parts of his body, circulate it like the blood in his veins. The way he would describe it was like a baby moving its limbs for the first time, though. They didn't have fine motor control, and sort of just squirmed around, just as he was with his newfound mana. He pushed and pulled it everywhere, and as he did, a more recognizable sensation ran across his skin. Warmth.
His eyes widened behind their eyelids when he felt something deeper within himself, something within the very core of his being, but not in a spacial sense, but a metaphorical one. He understood what it was immediately.
"Is that…"
"Yes, that's your mana-core. Yours is really high-quality. The highest quality I've seen, honestly. Wow, and even though it's pretty small right now, it's got a really good in-flow rate for its size. You've got something really special in there, Oliver."
Oliver felt a smile splitting his face as he explored the depths of the mana. His mana. He pushed into his arms and legs, to his fingers and toes, then pulled it all back to his core, then diffused it all across his body once more. He felt warm and cool as it came and left, it was exhilarating.
Then he felt something else. Something in his right hand. Like a newborn baby, he probed the foreign object curiously.
"What is that?" he frowned.
"Oh wow! You found me already!" Vhesla exclaimed in excitement. "You're a natural, Oliver! But if you can feel me…can you feel everything else? Can you feel it in the air?"
He did. He gasped. A giant mix of foreign energies buzzed on his skin from all sides, completely indiscernible and incoherent to him. It felt like a pressure against his body, against his own mana. He pushed back against it.
Suddenly he was on the ground and gasping for breath, his eyes snapping open. Sweat coalesced on his brow, and his body ached. He felt exhausted.
"What…what just…happened?" he asked between breaths, looking up to meet Vhesla's gaze.
The succubus looked apologetic. She crouched down to his level and gave him a small smile. "Sorry. Since you're new to this, you ended up burning off all of your mana while you were circulating it and are now suffering mana exhaustion. Just wait a couple of hours and your mana core will replenish it naturally, and maybe even grow slightly deeper."
She was right. He could feel how empty he was now. But he could also feel his body slowly and steadily drawing in…something from his surroundings. She offered him a hand and helped him up, to which he gave a grateful nod. "So? How was it?"
"I…I can't even describe it," Oliver shook his head. "Feeling it…just now? I can't even imagine living…without it! How could anyone…not know what this feels like?"
"Well, only about one in ten people are really able to tap into their mana. Less people are actually able to do magic with it. But I think you might be able to get the hang of things pretty quickly."
"I…I see." He put his hands on his hips and blew out a gout of air, like he'd just finished a long marathon. "Man…Holy crap. I…I think I'm gonna go lay down for a bit."
Vhesla chuckled. "You do that. When you're ready, try practicing with it and keep it contained and…let's meet here tomorrow?"
Oliver raised a brow. "Really?"
"Why not? This is actually pretty interesting."
"What would your…husband say?"
Now it was Vhesla's turn to raise a brow. "Do you want my help or not?"
"Fair. Fair. Very fair. Alright, I'll see you later, Vhe—er, V."
"See you, Oliver."
He waved as he stumbled away towards his tent, which sat all the way across the camp. Man, that was fucking cool. He couldn't wait to use his mana again! But first, maybe a quick nap.
By the time Oliver woke up, it was time for dinner, but when he felt his body fully replenished with mana once more, he didn't really feel hungry at all. He couldn't help but smile like a child as he circulated it again, this time being careful to do it slowly, checking for any of the burning Vhesla spoke of as she did so. Just being able to feel it made him happy. It was just…so cool! He was pretty sure nothing in his life had ever excited him as much as this had, except for the few group projects he'd done back in graduate school that happened to work perfectly.
He sat there for a while, simply playing with his mana, then sensing the mana in his environment, which, at the moment, he still couldn't discern whose was whose since it all felt the same. That was all still so cool though.
Before he got too excited though, he had to stop himself. He was already reaching his first goal! He could manipulate his own mana, and soon, maybe he'd be doing actual magic! But for now, he didn't want to get too ahead of himself.
In terms of common knowledge, he was still infantile in those respects. He'd heard many references about Chaos and the Distorted, but he didn't even know what they really were. The history book had to have answers about them, and as much as he wanted to continue practicing with his mana, he promised himself he would read the history book until he finished it, and now was as good a time as any, that is, before it got too dark to read. He also just didn't want to exhaust himself again and end up passing out too early. If anything, it would be better to exhaust himself after the sun went down, when he actually wanted to sleep.
With that in mind, he sat up and retrieved the history book. It was time to learn.
The programmer brushed his thumb across the cover of the book, then propped it open. He took a few minutes to remember where he'd left off the day before, then once again, he was engrossed in the content.
Hours passed. But this time, as Oliver's understanding of the world grew further, so did his horror regarding the scars this world bore. By the time he was finished, he was on the verge of sweating, and his nerves were frayed as he digested the information.
The book slammed shut as he lay down, dragging his hands down his face. 'Jiminy Christmas. What the hell was that? Fuck, ok. Review time.'
Last time, Oliver had left off with the climactic battle between Lilith and her daughters, and the Order and the Goddess of Light's angels in the 570s that ended in mutual destruction and a permanent ceasefire. Continuing from that point, things in N'erra's history seemed to get better for a while.
During all of the conflict, other kingdoms beyond just Valor sprang up. The small Kingdom of Remalgia, the Zipangu Dynasty, the mysterious Teria, and many, many others appeared, each with their own cultures and peoples. A period of peace began, and for many years, the world began to repopulate and develop from its countless wars.
But apparently, N'erra just couldn't catch a fucking break.
In 601 AR, less than thirty years after the end of the war, disaster struck. A malicious and mysterious force washed over the world, dubbed Chaos. Atrocious and feral beasts far more evil than the Creatures of Darkness had ever been, they ravaged the planet with limitless stamina, stifling the growth of major kingdoms and pushing back their borders while outright annihilating smaller kingdoms. They were so violent, nobody knew how to deal with them.
Nobody knew where they came from either, but it was theorized that the God of Darkness's death resulted in the remains of his body manifesting as these monstrosities. They were so twisted, not even the mamono could use their demonic energy to turn them into more mamono. No, in fact, it was the other way around.
With Chaos came the dungeons, large nonsensical structures that towered into the sky, dug deep into the ground, or spread across the land for kilometers, filled with magical traps and labyrinthian layouts created and maintained by powerful Chaos entities called Watchers. The Watchers would oversee their dungeons, which acted as grounds for new Chaos forms to be birthed, and for Chaos to gather power. Even worse, they acted as terrible conversion facilities where the dead bodies of sentient beings would be gathered and resurrected as Chaos entities.
It was a horrifying reality that Chaos threatened to bring the world down. In response, kingdoms created adventurer guilds, but individually, they weren't enough. Thus, in time, the Global Adventurer Coalition came to be in 620 AR. Through unification of talented individuals across the globe, along with the power of armies from each nation, sentient life was able to persist. But that was it, and nothing more. They couldn't expand much beyond their own borders, and Chaos only grew stronger.
It took two generations of adventurers to gain experience and power before things finally changed. In 685 AR, the strongest of the first generation adventurers came together and established the first Sentinel Combat Schools, created to train elite warriors for the specific purpose of fighting Chaos. It was enough to push Chaos back.
Valor grew in size and took hold of the southeastern edge of Ordo, and Remalgia, the kingdom on the frozen Solus continent, grew to be an empire composed of three kingdoms. Things finally seemed like they were turning around.
But fuck, if N'erra couldn't catch a break. When Oliver got to the next part, he almost had a stroke.
In the 770s, when the population finally managed to recover some, a fucking meteor struck the Mist Continent, and from it emerged a nightmare. The Distorted, an intelligent alien super-parasite with the sole purpose of devouring biomass and replicating itself.
On his first day in this forsaken world, Oliver had been running from a goddamned horror sci-fi trope. How was he ALIVE!?
Within months, the Distorted had its fetid mass on almost every continent. But somehow, they were both a curse…and a blessing.
Sentient life managed to survive with the strength of the Sentinels, but it was impossible for sentient life to spread. However, Chaos and the Distorted seemed to despise one another, and for the most part, they kept one another busy. Still, life had become difficult on N'erra, but people clung onto their hope of a better future.
Four hundred years of constant fighting and expansion saw the Kingdom of Valor spreading along the coast and inland of its continent, as did Remalgia seize its cold lands, warring with more kingdoms and becoming a five-kingdom empire by 1174 AR.
BUT, and Oliver could not believe it, the Distorted were not the last of it. No, it was this final disturbance that truly changed things.
Nobody knows exactly when, but some time in the early 1200s, by far the most otherworldly beings appeared on the Mist Continent again. But this time, they were not of flesh and bone.
The Machina, great machines and instruments of war emerged, attacking every living thing in sight, including Chaos and the Distorted. Their numbers were relatively low, but their firepower was unmatched, and even the strongest Sentinels found themselves crushed under metal boots. The Machina, unlike Chaos and the Distorted, had aims. Goals it could follow through.
And as such, village after village burned, great cities of brick and marble crumbled, and even Chaos dungeons and Distorted nests were crushed under the onslaught of the Machina's modern weapons. Rockets and bombs, bullets and missiles, lasers and plasma. Eventually, the Mist Continent lost the majority of its lands to the machines. Now, people called it the Lost Continent, and to this day it remains under the control of the Machina and the Distorted, with only small pockets of resistance here and there, and along some of the coasts. It was fucking insane. But always, sentient life fought on and found a way.
Eventually, someone managed to destroy one of the Machina's war robots, and the 1220s saw the rapid development of technology across civilizations spearheaded by Remalgia. Weapons inspired and reverse engineered from the Machina were created. The first firearms came about, and with them, the first airships.
This was N'erra's final turning point. Now, the world remains largely unexplored due to Chaos, Distorted, and Machina control, but as those three terrifying factions fight amongst themselves, sentient life was given a chance to recover once more.
The history book ended in the year 1450 AR, which was the book's publish date. Oliver skipped a lot of sections about the development of individual kingdoms and such, but even then, he had a headache. What the fuck was wrong with this planet?
At least Ordo was mostly safe, he supposed. The Order Kingdom currently controlled the west of the continent while Valor controlled the east, and in the middle between them were about twenty smaller countries that were constantly warring with one another, but that was about the biggest threat to the continent at the moment.
Still. After all that, he couldn't help but reinforce his previous opinion about N'erra.
This world is fucking insane.
'Oh…fuuuuck.'
What else was he supposed to think when the world was so batshit insane. Was this settlement even safe? WAS IT!? How could anyone be sure or be confident to come all the way out here with only a hundred people and a handful of guys that could protect them, when that was the history of their planet!?
'Calm down, man.' He breathed deeply, shaking his head to himself. Valor clearly had a plan they were adhering to, he just didn't understand it.
But man, the history of N'erra was so much more intense than he expected. He would have to go through it and read it in more detail again later. But for now, he needed a break.
Closing his eyes, he tugged at his mana again. A small smile slipped onto his face. 'I've been waiting for this.'
A/N: You guys have no idea what this single chapter has cost me. I have spent hours and hours writing, rewriting, scrapping, and banging my head against a wall because I myself wasn't sure of how I wanted it to go.
Guess how many words I wrote in total and ended up scrapping. Guess. GUESS!
That's right. 63K words. Fucking, 10 chapters worth of content, scrapped and rewritten over and over again because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.
At first, I was thinking of introducing chaos early and fucking up this town, but then I was like, that's too high energy and depressing right off the bat!
Then I decided I would introduce two of the new main characters that are gonna be integral to the main plotline of the story, but it just wasn't the time for that and their stories are so convoluted but interesting.
Then I decided I was going to have an all-out war happen, but that was also too much.
I made Oliver go through a bunch of emotional stuff that I just felt was overblown and didn't quite fit, so all of that shit? Dumped into the bin, with only about 10K words worth of scraps that I saved because they can be used in the future in more…appropriate places.
But anyways, this fucking chapter is why I've been gone for too long. I hope you enjoyed it.
Also, everything has meaning. Let me know your theories on why Oliver might feel like an angel to Lorraine, I wanna see y'alls speculation.
Anyways, till next time, and hopefully a much shorter wait,
Sir Yeetus Deletus