Apologies for the previous entry. Jealousy… is something that I still need to work on.

Anyways.

Let's talk about Paths, part 2.

As we all know by now. I'm a pathstrider of Remembrance. Those who are memokeepers, beings that have sundered their body from their physical form to exist on the edge of consciousness in others are beings that inherently know how to use their powers.

Think of Schrodinger's cat. It exists simultaneously as both dead and alive until it's observed and confirmed to be one or the other. Memokeepers are similar in the sense that they exist only in the edge of people's memories. This means that they cannot exist outside of someone's perception, right? Sort of.

Memokeepers exist in their own consciousness as well, meaning they are observed by themselves, which means they can exist in the spectrum of their own mind, but until they are perceived by outside forces they don't exist to others.

Basically. If a memokeeper was alone in a bar, they're the cat in the box. It isn't until someone else walks into the bar and they're perceived by someone else will they be able to be observed as being alive or not.

What the hell does this have to do with paths?

It means this shit doesn't come with a manual and all of this stuff needs to be figured out through trial and error. Unless you were a cheat like the memokeepers, or an emanator.

I can't do any of this stuff by the way.

After all, I only had one power.

Faking it till you make it.

I really hope I'll reach the make it part soon. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here.

…That's such a weird idiom.

Chapter 12. Sad Machine.

Games were something that I've played since before I could walk. I have distinct memories of being some young age like two, and playing a certain game about catching monsters before I even had the ability to read. It was my older step-brother's copy of the game, but I eventually figured out how to play just by trial and error. Damaging moves hurt the enemy, enemy dies then I win. If the enemy doesn't die then I don't win.

So simple even a toddler could do it.

That being said, just because I played some games as a kid didn't necessarily mean that skill translated to adulthood. What did translate was the fact that I was a massive nerd who played MMORPG's and even did World Progression in them, racing to be the first group to kill each new raid or boss. I'd even won a few of them.

Puzzle games were my specialty.

So when Silver Wolf stepped out of her reality portal that she created, I was fairly confident that my plan could work out in the end. Not because of how she looked, or anything related to that, but because of her temperament.

She was used to shit talking. And I had my toxic arc years ago. Bringing something like that up just required a bit of digging into my past.

Silver Wolf may have been small. But her ego was likely sky-high. I could probably play with it.

"So? What are you looking at?" Silver Wolf, the woman of the hour, said to me.

"You, of course." I said nonchalantly. The way I said it must have caught Sam's attention in some way, because they shifted their attention back to me. "Wanna play a game?"

"Heh." Silver Wolf chuckled. "You're quick and to the point for an NPC."

I had to force myself to smile before I said any expletives. Somehow, in a single moment, Silver Wolf said one thing that pissed me the hell off. Was it because it was on a field that I was more familiar with? The classic shit talk between enemies in a multiplayer game?

Calling someone an NPC is so… UGH. If it wasn't for the fact that this girl could literally hack reality, and as such probably thought of everything as a game anyways…

My smile was strained as I responded. "Wow. Why don't you let this NPC have a round in your favorite game then?"

I had to at least get on her good side.

"Hah? An old lady like you? You probably can't even operate a TV remote, much less keep up with me."

…Oh. Alright. So that was how we were gonna play it. I was 25. I was not old.

Screw being on her good side. My plan didn't need that anyways.

"How about a wager if you're so confident you'll win?"

Silver Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Hoh? And what could you possibly wager that I would be interested in?"

Hmm. Well. Now or never I suppose.

I fished out my locked phone and waved it in front of her. "How about temporary access to my phone?"

Silver Wolf rolled her eyes. "I have zero interest in seeing whatever boring selfies you took on that."

…Should I? I kind of wanted to be a tiny bit vindictive towards the kidnapper.

"Really? Because your friend Sam let it slip that you were all very interested in the Remembrance. Wouldn't you want a first look into what I have stored inside here?" I said, throwing the mechanical person under the bus.

The short hacker gave Sam a look. "Sam…"

If a mechanical suit could frown I'm positive they would be doing that.

"Ignore her. Don't bother with her games." Sam said to Silver Wolf.

"Actually it's Silver Wolf's games." I chimed in.

There was a DEEP inhale followed by a heavy sigh from the mechanical person. It was… extremely human-with-flesh-like. I could tell that they were so done with my shenanigans. I just hoped that didn't mean they burst into flames again.

Silver Wolf had a tiny smirk on her face. I wasn't sure if it was from my joke or the suffering of Sam in the face of my dad jokes. Maybe both.

"And in return what do you want?" The short silver haired girl asked me.

"Take me back to the Express and leave me alone?" I high balled an offer.

"Heh. Nice try."

"Scared you'll lose?"

"I know I'll win. But I'm not exactly in the mood to get yelled at for giving you even the slightest opportunity to get away."

Darn.

Well, no matter. I figured that would happen.

"Okay, how about if I win I get to send a text to my crew telling them I'm not dead… And also how about getting me a meal as well." I said, giving my real offer this time.

"You're gonna be greedy and ask for two things?"

I raised my hands in mock surrender. "You have all the advantages here. And I don't think asking for a meal is a big deal, especially if you want me for something later down the line."

"Hmm…" Silver Wolf seemed amused by all this. "You're forgetting one thing about all this."

Was I?

"And what's that?"

"I could just take your phone now and hack into it. Wouldn't even have to bother with all this." Silver Wolf pointed out the obvious glaring hole in this plan.

It was a fair criticism. This entire thing would be useless and I'd be back to step zero in e everything if they just did that. But… I doubted it.

I was mostly banking on the fact that Silver Wolf was one of those people who, when challenged on their turf, couldn't refuse. It was like if someone asked for a 1v1 in Mid Lane after getting their shit kicked in after the match, against the person that kicked their shit in.

I was the one who got their shit kicked in, in this analogy.

"If that's the case, then why are we even having this conversation? You let this drag on for so long because you were interested." I said with fake confidence. "I know how this works, I've played these types of games too. Half the battle happens before we even pick up the controller."

"You're cocky for someone who got kidnapped. It'll be fun to take you down." Silver Wolf said, sliding her hand over open air only for a screen to appear in front of her.

It reminded me of those augmented reality type of things that were commonly seen in Sci-Fi media, an entire screen, keyboard and everything just appearing in thin air that she could use to type on. After that, she typed a few things and manifested an entire physical big screen, a few chairs, a table and two controllers.

I did my best to take a subtly deep breath to calm my nerves. "What's the game?"

"She has something planned, Silver Wolf. Don't entertain her." Sam cut in once again.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, but the resident hacker didn't seem to care what the pyromaniac mecha said.

"Obviously. I'd be more surprised if she didn't." Silver Wolf sounded almost offended at Sam's exclamation.

Damn. I suppose I wasn't that surprised they figured out I was onto something. But I couldn't let them figure out exactly what it was I wanted.

What to say… I was blanking so I decided to say the first thing that came to mind.

"I mean if you wanted to join in and play that badly Sam you could." I interjected.

"Or maybe we overestimated her and she's just stupid." Silver Wolf said flatly. I scowled in response. "We're doing one game of shooter, one of racing and then a fighter. I'll run you down in each of them and be done in time to grab a snack before the main event."

Main event was something I wasn't quite sure what she was referring to. Was it when Kafka confronted the crew? No, surely not. Why would Silver Wolf need to be there then?

"Sounds good to me." I muttered the rest of my sentence. "Would prefer to be run down by Stelle instead."

"Don't let Kafka hear you say that."

I blushed a bit from the fact that I was caught slacking. "Let's get this on with. Give me a controller."

Silver Wolf slowly and meticulously handed me a controller.

"If you scratch it I'll kill you." She threatened.

"I have respect for other people's things." I scoff. "If I scratch it it'll probably be because Sam did something."

The Mecha person put their head in one hand and sighed once more. I was relatively certain at this point that there was someone inside the suit. The mannerisms were just too… flesh-like.

Not that I had really met a mechanical person. I suppose that someone without a set of organic lungs could operate in the same way, but wasn't the act of sighing similar to yawning in that it increased the circulation and allowed a bigger intake of air to help regulate certain parts of our bodies and as such a thing that should only really exist instinctually in organic beings?

…I missed looking up random things to satisfy my curiosity.

"I'm starting up the game now."

Ah yes. The game. Three games that I needed to beat Silver Wolf in if I wanted to send a text off to the crew and get a meal.

Did I ever mention that I sucked at shooters, racers and fighters?

Yeah. Oh well.

Suffice to say. Silver Wolf absolutely crushed me in all three. We technically didn't even need to do the last one, but I pushed for it because my pride was hurt. I knew I was horrible at fighting games, I just mashed buttons in a pattern that was always read easily and my knowledge of how to react was just abysmal. Don't even get me started on the controls.

But yes, I lost, and with not so great reluctance, I handed my phone over to Silver Wolf.

"Take what you want from it, but I need it back." I told the short girl.

Silver Wolf smugly accepted it, swiped her hand and brought out a reality hacked screen in front of her. She manifested a cord from somewhere and plugged it into my phone.

"The hell? You don't even have a SIM card on this." Silver Wolf said.

I could feel Sam's gaze on me as Silver Wolf voiced her complaints.

"You're the one who called it earlier. Shouldn't you know about these sorts of things?" I rebutted.

Silver Wolf rolled her eyes. "You think I need a SIM card to connect to someone's phone? I'll just patch a line directly through reality and connect myself to it."

That was good to know.

"That's convenient. You need help opening that?" I offered, even if I had absolutely no way to actually help, someone like her would probably get offended just from the fact that I offended. And offended people tended to let things slip.

"Hah? Are you serious? I'm already in. 042623. Nice password by the way."

I felt my entire body go still. My password said out loud. It really was that simple. The password to something that had plagued me since the very first few minutes since I had transmigrated to this entire place.

Was there something on it? Did I really have a method of getting out of here? What did Zenith put on there?

Or was it entirely possible that I had just overthought everything, and nothing was on there. That I had made a mountain out of a molehill, and when this was all said and done I'd be no closer to understanding how I got here.

I took a deep breath. "Thanks." I said genuinely.

"That was sarcasm. You have some weird stuff on your phone. It's like you're writing an entire novel in your notes app. Oh hey. Look." She swung the floating screen towards me and I could see a picture of myself, and Seele, both smiling and looking just a bit younger. "You actually look cute when you don't have a resting bitch face."

I got whiplash just from that. Was she complimenting me? Insulting me? Both? "I-Uh thanks?" I repeated. I was pretty sure anyone would have a resting bitch face if they were kidnapped.

"Wasn't a compliment." Silver Wolf frowned. "Oh I guess it could be taken as one. You look like a bitch."

I could not help my recoil at the bluntness of the comment. "What the fuck? That's not shit talk that's just being rude."

"Oops. Sorry." Silver Wolf said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

"Bitch."

"This bitch just beat your ass in three different games."

"I'm not good at those types of games. You just picked whatever ones you were good at."

"Sounds like you're being a sore loser to me. Aren't you the one who asked for a wager in the first place?"

I really, really, hated to admit it. But this shit talking back and forth with Silver Wolf was actually somewhat fun. That really wasn't the plan at all, and probably not the best idea considering I was literally a hostage… or something, but it beat just laying around.

Yes, I was still improvising my attitude. But it was considerably less so than when I was with Sam. Silver Wolf reminded me a lot of some of my old friends.

"...I mean, what else would you do in my situation? I had to do something."

"Nice try but I'm not giving you any ideas. I've been told you're pretty smart but they never told me about the big ego part as well."

I frowned at that. Did I happen to let something slip? "I don't have a big ego."

"You sure? Challenging a Stellaron Hunter? Bantering with them? You even stood up to Sam earlier. I can't tell what exactly it is you're planning, but you're either confident that you can get away or you don't see any of us as an actual threat."

The topic suddenly got serious. I steadied myself and matched my tone to the atmosphere.

There was some truth to her words, albeit I don't think she knew that most of my confidence was entirely fabricated and based on a plan that I had no idea would work. If I stopped myself from being in the moment for even a minute I'm sure that I'd break down in tears.

"I don't think that's confidence. You, Kafka and Sam all said it yourself. You need me for something. I can be relatively sure that I'm not in lethal danger." I neglected to mention that Sam terrified me. "I don't recall doing anything that would offend any of you, so I can also cross off that this is personal."

"You don't recall huh." Silver Wolf chose to focus on those words that I said.

I swallowed my nerves. Was I overthinking it?

"I've only been on the Express for a day. Prior to that I was stuck on a frozen rock of a planet estranged from the rest of the galaxy. I don't see how I could have history with any of you."

Silver Wolf chuckled. It felt uncharacteristic of her to do so. She unplugged my phone and meticulously handed it back to me. "I got what I needed from your phone. Thanks for helping me kill time. Hit me up if you ever want to get your ass kicked again. Until then, I'm heading out for a snack."

And just as quick as the Stellaron Hunter appeared, she flashed through reality and vanished before my eyes.

I was alone once more with Sam.

"Was such a wager worth losing your privacy over?" Sam asked me.

Nosy nosy nosy. Nosy mecha person. Silver Wolf was someone that I could understand pretty easily, even if I felt like she knew something that I didn't, but Sam was someone that I still didn't understand.

So much for being good at reading people. Although I don't think I've ever claimed that I was.

"Any place I can use the bathroom?" I replied with a question of my own.

There was just something about Sam that unnerved me. I didn't truly understand it myself. It felt as if they knew me, yet I didn't know them. I hated that feeling. It made me feel like an open book. And even if I didn't have any evidence to support such a claim besides a few odd comments by them, I couldn't stop how I felt.

"...In the tent. It's bigger than it looks." Sam answered me.

For the first time since I initially observed it, my attention went back to the tent. If it was bigger than it looked did that mean it was bigger on the inside?

I pushed through one of the flaps on the tent and was met with a luxurious… house.

…Ah.

Right.

Just magic space reality hacking bullshit then.

I checked the sides of the house and anything that might lead as a way to actually get out of there, but it was entirely locked and the windows seemed like they would break my fists before I could break them. I sighed in resignation before finding a bathroom and locking myself in it.

When I was sure that I was alone, I grabbed my phone and turned it on.

042623.

When I opened my notes app like Silver Wolf mentioned.

I was met with what could only be called malice.

Start: May 15th. 2024.

End: May 24th. 2024.

Words: 3225.

The significance of the password is entirely guessable. But if you need a hint. America goes Month/Day/Year.

As for what else… I don't have much to comment on? Silver Wolf is kinda hard to write to be completely honest. And we're finally going to get to see what's on the phone. 13 chapters and nearly 50k words later.

Next update… I've been trying to keep a steady 4-5 days inbetween each update. But I might delay it a bit because I really want to play Paper Mario TTYD. It's been at least a decade since I last played it and at least three or so console generations since then.

Let me know what you think will be on the phone. I really enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts and theories about future events.