Chapter 8 – My Own Strength
Amelia Watson was woken up by the incessant beeping of the alarm on her phone. Ever since she had mostly solved the electricity problem, all of them could use small electronic devices regularly. They weren't much of a help, though, as most forms of wireless, internet-based communication were completely offline. Radio should still work, but they had never heard another soul throughout the many weeks they had been listening.
After silencing her alarm, Amelia rolled over into a sitting position. She laid back against the couch that she had been using as a bed for the last few weeks. Gura had cleaned it thoroughly before Amelia even considered sleeping on it.
As luck would have it, located down a short hallway in the back of the bar, there were a couple rooms with couches large enough for someone to sleep on. There was also a pair of bathrooms. Unfortunately, neither had a bathtub or shower of any kind, so they had to rig up a makeshift shower and clean up the excess water after. It was inconvenient, but it was better than nothing.
It took a couple more minutes for Amelia to be willing to pull herself up off of the couch. A couple gulps of cold water helped give her to courage to make the move. Yesterday had not been the easiest training Gura had her undergo. She was still a little sore, but that soreness should lessen as the day progresses. Well, it better lessen, as Amelia was going to need to be at her best for what she was going to do.
The thought of venturing into the city had seemed closer to a dream than a realistic goal only a few short weeks ago. But thanks to all of her hard work she'd put in since then, Amelia knew that it was now a very realistic goal. After all, she was going to do just that today with Gura.
The emotions of excitement and nervousness both stem from the same chemical compound within the human body. It is entirely up to the brain to interpret that chemical sensation as one of the two emotions. Normally, Amelia would be able to convince herself of one of the two depending on what the situation was. However, she was somewhat unable to because of how foreign it all was.
After a couple of love taps to her head, Amelia fully pulled herself from the fogginess of sleep and into the world of the conscious. What was she so worried about anyways? She had just thought about how much she has improved as of late and Gura was going to be with her. If anything went wrong, Gura could easily help her.
Or, if things went really bad, she could always fall back on her ability to rewind time upon her death.
It had been over a month now since she had felt the sharp sensation of death. She knew her ability hadn't disappeared from disuse because she still heard the faint sound of ticking during her spars with Gura. Even if neither of them was trying to hurt the other, the possibility of injury was still there. This gave Amelia a clue as to how that part of her ability worked.
The most probable explanation for why the ticking appeared when it did was that the speed and volume of the ticking was directly related to the probability of injury and the severity of said injury. Amelia wasn't sure if either of these factors controlled any specific aspect of the ticking or if all of it just worked on one scale. She had also thus far been unable to figure out the standard unit of measurement for the ticking. The volume and speed didn't seem to change at a rate consistent with the danger she was in. Or maybe it was possible that she simply didn't understand the level of the danger.
Amelia collected her various bathroom items and walked out of her room. Her morning routine was similar to the one she had previously, but with some adjustments to accommodate her current situation.
Being trapped down here in this underground basement made life a little bit different compared to what she had been used to before. Getting to go out scavenging was going to help a lot with that overall mindset. No longer would Amelia be a freeloader. She would fend for herself out in that wasteland and come back with supplies for all of them to survive with.
Amelia reached the bathroom and walked inside. She approached the first sink and instinctively reached for the faucet to turn on the water. Being lost in her thoughts caused her to revert to this habit. If she did turn the water on, only a tiny amount of black sludge would dribble out. Instead, they all used buckets of clean water that Gura had prepared in advance. The water was clean enough to drink out of, but Amelia didn't really want to drink from a bucket.
While she poured a tiny amount of water onto her toothbrush and squeezed toothpaste onto it right after, Amelia continued to idly think about the current situation. It always helped for her to think through her problems and create a plan to tackle them. She didn't have much else to occupy her mind in this place, anyways. Sure, designing and building her blade took a lot of time and effort, but she didn't want to focus on that all the time. Even a genius like herself needed to rest her brain regularly to avoid burnout or becoming stuck on a particular problem.
The bathroom was empty, but Amelia knew that Gura and IRyS were awake in the main bar area. She had caught a glimpse of the blue glow Gura's trident emitted out of the corner of her eye as she walked past the open way in. And if Gura was up, there was a very high likelihood IRyS was, too.
Both Gura and IRyS slept out in the main area on booths covered in several layers of fabric. Gura said she did this because she wanted to be the first line of defense in case something were to try and get in. IRyS' reasoning was far less noble, with her stating that she simply did not want to be anywhere near Amelia. The detective claimed one of the two private rooms instantly, so IRyS, by her own rules, could not stay in the other room.
So the occupant of the other room defaulted to Ina, who was more than happy to take up residence. The Priestess slept a lot, appearing to be more of a night-owl than an early-bird. Her introverted nature also benefited from having a room all to herself.
Amelia spat the toothpaste out of her mouth and into a cup sitting next to the sink. Obviously, no running water meant no washing things down the sink. She would dispose of that cup and any other waste fluids outside once she was finished here.
She sighed, contemplating if doing anything but surviving was possible under these circumstances. But after a few moments, Amelia steeled herself. She couldn't let thoughts like those infect her mind. Even if it seemed hopeless, there were still things Amelia needed to do.
Firstly, Gura's friends still needed rescuing. She had not forgotten about the promise she had made to her. She had done a pretty great job at training Amelia, so there was no way that she would flake on her end of the deal.
Secondly, despite Amelia not having heard from any of the Council personally, IRyS claimed to have short, infrequent bursts of communication with Hakos Baelz, the leader of the Council. During these short meetings, IRyS claims that the Council is still keeping tabs on them and will be contacting them all once things have calmed down a bit. Amelia wasn't sure if she bought it, but it would be reassuring if the Council hadn't abandoned them. Only time would tell...
And thirdly, she knew that she would be unable to rest peacefully if she was unable to overcome the challenge in front of her. All throughout her life, Amelia Watson has pushed above and beyond every limit she had and problem she encountered. Maybe this attitude was the reason behind her ability to go back in time upon her death.
A slight chuckle escaped her lips at the thought of her ability being explained by something so vague and nondescript. Sure, there was a lot she didn't understand just yet, but she wouldn't allow the answers to her most burning questions elude her forever.
After finishing up in the bathroom, Amelia collected her things and walked back towards her room. While passing in front of the opening to the main room, Amelia glance into it this time. As she suspected, both Gura and IRyS were awake and lounging around. Gura noticed her gaze and waved excitedly. Amelia returned the gesture, but with far less energy. She had so far been unable to understand how Gura always had so much energy.
Once back in her room, Amelia looked over at her blade. It sat on a folding table held up by a couple of stands made from the scraps of metal left over from manufacturing the housing. A smile crept its way across her face. She couldn't help but be proud of what she had made with what little resources she had.
Of course, like any good engineer, Amelia was far from satisfied with the current state of her blade. Several of the ideas she had to improve it flooded her thoughts, however she was unable to implement any of them due to lack of knowledge or materials. The second restraint should loosen after today, though.
Gura had outlined the current plan quite clearly the day before. They would gather some food and water before moving on to an electronics store. It was simple in theory, but the threat posed by the Shadow Beasts still loomed. Amelia knew that Gura could defend them both by herself, but a sum dozen edge cases filled Amelia's mind with horrifying possibilities. The could get separated, or surrounded, or ambushed, or...
Amelia reached out and grabbed the metal casing of her blade. She felt the invisible veins of magic within her body begin to grow hot, as the crystal began spinning.
Those thoughts of 'what if' and 'but' were useful to keep her safe, however they only served to cause her unnecessary worry at this given moment.
The strength and skills she had been cultivating over the past month would keep her and Gura safe.
Amelia picked up the blade, opting to hold it in her hand instead of attaching it to the wrist mount. There were still some tests she wanted to run to make sure her weapon was in top form for today.
Just as she was about to leave, Amelia paused for a moment and contemplated bringing her pistol as a back up in case her blade malfunctions. She needed to be light and mobile, so a pistol tucked into her waistband was out of the question. After a few seconds, she ultimately decided that, without a proper holster, it would only serve to get in her way. Even if it might possibly be of some use, the negatives outweighed the positives, so she left it behind as she walked out of her room.
As soon as she entered the main bar area, Amelia felt two pairs of eyes fall onto her. One set was very excited, beaming with happiness and positivity. The other set was observant and subtly judgmental. It was obvious which belonged to Gura and which belonged to IRyS.
"Are you ready?!" Gura asked excited, her eyes glowing enough to almost illuminate the entire room on their own.
"...to be useful?" IRyS tacked on after a moment. Amelia didn't verbally respond, but she did glare at IRyS for a second before rolling her eyes. That reaction was enough for the Nephilim to grow a small grin.
"I just need to make sure everything is functioning properly and then we'll head out," Amelia responded to Gura.
"Sounds like a plan!" Gura gave Amelia a thumbs up. "IRyS..." she turned and spoke to the other girl in a much quieter tone. Gura then motioned for IRyS to follow her over to a far corner of the room.
Amelia placed her blade into its testing mount and gave it a brief visual inspection. After verifying the no pieces had magically disappeared, she nodded to herself and put her arm near it. Slowly, she turned up the spin rate of the crystal until it was just below its auto-ignition point. If the crystal was spun any faster, then the dueling magnetic fields would create sparks and forcefully ignite the blade. Amelia wanted to study the integrity of the components inside without being blinded by the bright light the crystal produced.
Once she was certain that everything was stable, she walked over to the stash of food they had been accumulating. Surprisingly, food and water hadn't been too much of a concern, despite the apocalyptic situation outside. It only now occurred to her that she didn't know if the other girls were using a hidden technique to scavenge this much food so consistently. Well, she was going to find out soon enough.
After grabbing some stuff that was probably good for breakfast, she sat back down and checked on the status of her weapon. Sure enough, it was still spinning without any issues. Amelia shrugged, taking a bite of an energy bar. Of course it worked perfectly, after all, she made it.
That being said, Amelia brushed her fingers against the plastic guard she put up after the explosion from a few days earlier. She knew that she could make mistakes, but they were always quickly rectified and learned from.
'I am indeed capable of admitting when I am wrong unlike you.' IRyS' words from a month ago resurfaced in Amelia's mind. She had spent a decent amount of time mulling over that statement, but she still could not for the life of her figure out what IRyS was talking about. Speaking of IRyS, Amelia glanced over at where Gura and led the traitorous Nephilim.
The other two girls were having a quiet conversation on the other side of the room. Amelia couldn't really hear what they were saying due to the noise her blade was creating, and she couldn't read their lips because of how dim the light was down here. The LED strips were efficient, but they didn't produce too much light.
Because of how often they had been out scavenging together, Gura and IRyS had seemingly formed a halfway decent friendship. Amelia didn't understand how that was possible in the slightest, but if anyone could become friends with IRyS, it would of course be Gura.
The shark girl must have felt Amelia's gaze on her, as she seemed to finish her conversation with IRyS before looking over at Amelia. The detective pushed the rest of her energy bar into her mouth and gave a small wave to Gura. She was offered a big, toothy smile in return. After a few more words to IRyS, Gura walked her way over to where Amelia was standing behind the bar.
"What were you talking about?" Amelia asked. She didn't really care, but it was something to talk about while she finished eating. She grabbed a small bag of trail mix and began digging into it.
"Do you actually care or are ya just avoiding talkin' about the trip?" Gura answered her question with another. Amelia paused eating for a moment, slightly surprised by how easily Gura read her.
Well, it wasn't all that surprising. Gura had shown over the last month that she was indeed capable of brief moments of great intelligence. That just made it all the more frustrating to Amelia when she would suddenly do a full 180 and get a simple fact wrong that had just been explained to her moments before. But that also caused Amelia to become deeply curious about how Gura functioned on a mental level.
Amelia always grouped people into two categories: Those who were smarter than her, and everyone else. Gura, somehow, managed to sit in both categories. Her sparks of genius mostly occurred when the topics of biology, magic, or social situations came up. Additionally, Amelia had also bared witness to other random moments, like when Gura suddenly mentioned how increasing the salt levels in water would increase its electrical conductivity.
Was this what Amelia looked like before college? A general lack of confidence could lead to someone only occasionally revealing their true intelligence, while remaining a common fool most of the time. It was possible...
"Does my answer change yours?" Amelia responded. A tiny smirk jumped onto Gura's face, betraying her intentions before she even spoke.
"Maybe, maybe not." Her words may have been cryptic without the smile, but Amelia knew that Gura's answer would change depending on what she said. Amelia's mind hadn't changed in the past few seconds, but it would be nice to idly chat about IRyS rather than the trip. She would need to actually pay attention to that and right now she didn't really want to.
"I will always be first in line to hear about IRyS being told off," Amelia said. Gura rubbed her chin as if she was figuring out if Amelia really meant what she just said.
"It sounds like you already know what we talked about," Gura answered, referring to Amelia's previous statement. Amelia shrugged.
"It was just an assumption, albeit a correct one, but I don't know what you actually said to her," she explained. Gura sighed, finally giving in to Amelia's request.
"I just told her that she shouldn't say things like that to you." It almost seemed like Gura didn't want to talk about this or that she wanted to talk about something else instead.
"You guys were talking for a while, surely you said more than just that." Amelia glanced behind Gura and saw IRyS idly spinning one of her crystals above her open palm. She was moving her hand slightly to the left and right, causing the crystal to reverse directions over and over. It was a simple motion, so it was obvious to Amelia that IRyS was listening to her and Gura.
"She said that you just needed a reminder about how important this little outing is. I didn't agree and we just went back and forth a little bit," Gura said, giving a little more information than before. However, Amelia still wasn't satisfied.
"That's soooo boring," Amelia responded, leaning her head into one of her hands. Gura sighed deeply, glancing away from Amelia for a moment.
"Well..." Right as Gura began to speak, Amelia saw something change behind her. The shifting of the light caused by IRyS' idle twirling of her crystal suddenly stopped. Amelia couldn't risk looking over to confirm if IRyS had indeed flinched, as that might cause Gura to notice, too, and avoid saying whatever she was about to say.
And Amelia really wanted to hear this.
After a few more moments of hesitation, Gura continued, "Well if you're so curious, why don't ya go ask her yourself?" Amelia groaned playfully and leaned away, the smile on her face only reducing slightly. Now she looked over at IRyS and saw the other girl quickly look away from them. Once again, Gura had surprised her with a random burst of social intelligence.
"Why would I ever willingly do that?" Amelia asked, tossing the now empty bag of trail mix into the designated trash bag. She swept the discarded energy bar wrapper in, as well.
"I just think that ya'll might be able to get along a little bit if ya gave it the chance," Gura said quietly. This meek tone was rare from Gura, who's usual voice was far louder and full of confidence.
"Unlike you, I can't just get along with anyone," Amelia responded. After a few moments of silence, the detective stood up and stretched. "Shall we get going?" she asked, grabbing a backpack that laid nearby. Gura's expression grew into an excited one upon hearing this.
"Let's go!" she cheered, her usual tone returning in all its glory.
"Good luck you guys," Ina called out from the bathroom behind them. She had sneakily gone in there while they were talking. Being unintentionally sneaky was something Ina was quite good at.
After they both expressed their thanks to Ina, Gura grabbed a backpack of her own along with a duffel bag and her trident. She then walked over to Amelia who was standing next to the large main door, which the detective had already pulled open.
While walking over, Gura passed by IRyS and gave her a light slap with her tail. This jolted the Nephilim from her daydreaming. It only took her a second to figure out why Gura had done that to her.
"Try to be useful out there, Amelia!" she mockingly cheered. Gura groaned and shook her head. Amelia made sure to flip the Nephilim off while her and Gura left.
Gura led the way up the stairs to the surface, the glow from her trident providing enough light for the two of them to comfortably see. Amelia trailed behind her, watching the shark girl's tail sway back and forth.
Despite Amelia's best efforts, IRyS' words towards her this morning were really sticking with her. She knew that IRyS was only attempting to get under her skin for some cheap humor, but it still hit her right where it hurt the most. Obviously, that's exactly why she did it. IRyS' attacks, both mental and physical, were always expertly targeted.
Amelia wondered if Gura's words to IRyS earlier had done anything at all. To be fair, though, Gura's words to her didn't do anything either. Some people were just never meant to get along. It was just a shame that they were stuck together in a world that has become so small...
And it was even smaller to Amelia than to any of the others. Because of her inability to make herself useful, her world was limited to the underground bar and a small area on the surface. She never quite understood how a lack of freedom could drive someone crazy until she was stuck, confined to that tiny area.
But now she was so close to finally expanding her world. She was so close to being useful. The thought of achieving something she had wished to do for so long filled her with nerv- no... excitement! She had already decided earlier that she was excited to do this.
However, these stairs were putting a bit of a damper on her excitement. She had just gone up and down them yesterday, but they felt much longer today. Maybe her and Gura were just moving slower than before.
Amelia picked up her pace a little, climbing the stairs at a slightly faster rate compared to Gura. It would only be a few more seconds before she caught up.
Before she would finally be-
"Ah!" Amelia let out a startled yelp as her shoe slipped from the stair it was on. Luckily, she was able to balance herself before she could fall down. Gura immediately spun around to see what was going on.
"You alright?" she asked, looking at Amelia's current condition. After taking a couple moments to steady herself, Amelia looked up at the concerned Gura.
"Just missed a step," she answered. Gura let out a sigh of relief, glad that Amelia was perfectly fine.
"Here," Gura told her, moving over to the left side of the stairs, "let's walk closer so you have more light." Amelia smiled and accepted the kind offer from her friend, walking up next to Gura.
Amelia took slow, deep breaths as they both began to ascend the stairs once again. She had always had a bad habit of getting too absorbed into her own thoughts. It had become a regular occurrence recently, but she couldn't let it happen here.
Normally, her thoughts were quite helpful. Ideas would swirl around, waiting for her to grab onto one and pursue it. However, these thoughts dancing in her mind were less helpful now. They only served to distract her or possibly even attempt to convince her that what she was feeling was not excitement.
But she couldn't block them out entirely. That kind of attitude would only cause her to stumble like she had just done. If something like that happened while she was outside, she might not have the chance to stabilize herself like she did here.
As much as it pained her, Amelia accepted that she was a little bit nervous. Still though, being nervous was surely normal given the circumstances. And after a quick glance at Gura, who was beaming a bright smile up towards the top of the stairs, Amelia knew that, even if she was slightly nervous, there was nothing to fear.
Each of her steps became more confident, allowing the top of the staircase to approach much faster. It was only a little longer before they both emerged on the surface.
"Alrighty!" Gura announced, placing her hands confidently on her hips, "Where do ya wanna go?"
Amelia knew that Gura was asking if she wanted to go anywhere personally, even if she didn't ask it directly. The thought of returning to her apartment crossed her mind for a moment, but she quickly dismissed it. The crumbling buildings in the distance didn't give her much confidence that hers would still be standing.
"There was a hardware store on the outskirts of the city I occasionally got parts from," Amelia said after a long pause. Gura put a hand to her chin and scanned the horizon.
"I think I know the place you're talking about. We've been to a place like that a couple times, but it was very confusing," Gura admitted, "I just can't understand all that technical stuff, but I bet you can!" Amelia nodded in agreement.
"What order do you guys normally do things?" Amelia asked as they began walking towards the city.
"Normally, we get food and water first so we have some supplies for the rest of the trip," Gura explained. Amelia only now realized that she hadn't brought any food or water with her. She had assumed that something Gura was carrying contained supplies, but now looking at them closer they both seemed empty.
"That's a good idea, but what if you can't find any good food or water?" Amelia aired her concerns, but Gura didn't seem too worried by them. Clearly, the approach had worked for the past month, but Amelia still wanted to bring it up. She was curious about the reasons behind the method.
"We've never had a problem finding any quickly," Gura said, pointing to several buildings nearby. Most buildings around them had been leveled down to their foundations, but a few still stood at least partly intact. "Gas stations, supermarkets, and restaurants are easy enough to find and loot supplies from. We've dried up a majority of the ones super close by, but there are still plenty more before we would have to venture into the city."
"It might not be the best idea to assume every place is full of supplies, though, especially as you get closer to the city." Gura looked away from Amelia and stared into the city a couple miles away. The look she had on her face was a somber one. Amelia wanted to ask what she was thinking about, but Gura spoke first.
"There's a grocery store several minutes ahead that'll have a lot of the answers ya want," Gura told her. Amelia nodded, understanding that Gura liked using practical examples to help explain things. That was one of her main reasons for directly sparring with Amelia in order to train. No better experience than the real thing, or at least as close as they could get to it.
"Well, I'm feeling a bit impatient for those answers," Amelia said after a few more seconds of walking, "Can we pick up the pace?" Gura looked over at her with a sly smile. Amelia had been a little worried that moving at high speeds could be dangerous, but Gura's reaction indicated that this wasn't the case.
"Think you can keep up?" she asked. Her Atlantean nature might've made Gura incredibly small, but that was simply due to how densely packed her muscles were. Take that fact and combine it with some physical enhancements via magic and her strength was difficult to properly comprehend. Amelia had gotten slightly better at using magic to enhance her strength and speed, but the difference was truly slight. Gura's cheeky smile and reply told her Gura was significantly faster than her.
"Just don't leave me too far behind," Amelia asked politely. Gura laughed at the normally arrogant detective being so timid.
"I'll see ya there!" she said before a cloud of dust was kicked up in the place she used to be. At least she'd been able to see in what direction Gura had taken off in.
Amelia drew in a long breath, placing a hand against the warm metal housing of her blade. Thanks to Gura's discovery of Amelia's near bottomless supply of magic, she could let the crystal spin indefinitely and never worry about running out of magic.
She then slowly let that breath out between pursed lips. The crystal began to spin faster, as she lowered herself to the ground. The familiar rush of magic burning throughout invisible veins within her grew.
Suddenly, Amelia quickly sucked air into her lungs and pushed against the ground as hard as she could. The distinct, burning sensation of magic fueling her roared through her legs, as she ran across the flat wasteland towards the direction Gura had gone.
Despite her relative lack of control over magic compared to the others around her, Amelia was capable of reaching speeds faster than the fastest, non-magical humans with ease.
20... 25... 30 miles per hour, Amelia accelerated faster and faster. She hadn't really been given a proper opportunity to see how fast she could go, so why not test out her current limit.
Once she reached a speed that made it difficult for her to keep her eyes open, she decided it might be a good idea to stop pushing. The scary part was that she didn't feel like she was even close to approaching her limit.
How strong had she become without realizing?
When her only benchmark is a super-powered Atlantean, maybe her sense of normal had been thrown way off. She had recalibrated to her new circumstances, so that was a possibility. What was normal to her now was fantasy only a couple months ago.
"Well you're faster than I expected," Gura said beside her. Amelia recoiled slightly from the sudden voice next to her.
"I didn't catch up, did I?" she asked, hoping one thing, but knowing that it was extremely unlikely. Gura laughed while looking like she was going for a casual jog.
"Not a chance. I already went there and came back," Gura said, taking some of the wind out of Amelia's sail, "You were just further ahead of where I expected you to be."
"I would be going faster, but it is already a little hard to see at this speed," Amelia explained. Gura remained quiet for a few moments.
"I guess my body is just different from yours because I've never had to deal with anything like that," Gura speculated, "Ina doesn't move very fast for very long, so I guess your only means of figuring it out is IRyS."
"I think I'll be able to figure it out on my own," Amelia groaned. She knew Gura brought up IRyS on purpose to try and convince her to give her a chance. Gura was oddly persistent about that. What did she have to gain from her and IRyS getting along? It didn't make any sense to Amelia for her to bring up the issue so often.
After another minute or so of running, Gura called out for them to slow down. Amelia did so less gracefully than Gura, but still managed to just fine. Gura pointed down what used to be a street towards a building a few dozen yards away. It was mostly in one piece, but all of the glass had been shattered. Still, Amelia could recognize that it was the remains of a grocery store.
They both walked over and once inside Amelia was extremely surprised to see how much was still on the shelves. There were some items missing or strewn across the floor, but most were still sitting perfectly on the shelf they had been placed on before the invasion began.
Amelia wanted to ask Gura how it was possible for everything to remain untouched for so long, but she decided to observe more about the store before asking questions. She might be able to figure out some answers on her own.
Gura instructed her to fill the duffel bag with anything heavy, like water and large cans, and put lighter items, like cereal and small cans, into their backpacks. This was so that they could quickly shed the heavy weight in the event of a sudden fight. Dropping a backpack was far more difficult than a duffel bag. Amelia was impressed by Gura's forward thinking and began to gather food and water.
Even if the place hadn't been touched since the invasion, that didn't mean that time hadn't progressed. Perishables, such as fruit, vegetables, and bread, had all rotted in the months they'd spent sitting in open air. Frozen and refrigerated food suffered similar fates. Only canned food and items with much longer shelf lives were still edible.
After around half an hour of silently gathering supplies, Amelia was satisfied with both what she had gathered and the investigative work she had conducted.
Based on her observations, the most likely explanation for the lack of looting was that nobody was given the chance to loot. It was a dark, sickening conclusion, but it explained a lot of what Amelia had seen.
"Gura," Amelia broke the silence when they met back up with backpacks stocked with supplies, "have you seen any other survivors on your scavenging trips." Gura shook her head with little hesitation.
"Nope. You three were the first and only group of survivors I've seen since everything happened..." Gura's voice trailed off, clearly not happy talking about it. After a silent moment, Gura pointed at a dark puddle nearby. "See that?" she asked.
Amelia walked over and crouched down next to the puddle. She had initially thought that it was just a muddy puddle, but now that she was closer it looked like something far more sinister.
"What is this shit?" she asked, dipping and finger into it.
Heat began building from the finger that she put in and a small amount of steam wafted into the air. Amelia immediately retracted her finger.
A tiny amount of the dark substance boiled off of her fingertip. Amelia made sure to keep her face away from the puddle and her finger in order to not breath the possibly toxic gas in. Gura walked up behind her and patted her on the back reassuringly.
"Don't worry, it's not harmful to us," Gura said, crouching down next to Amelia.
"To us?" Amelia inquired. Gura scooped a small amount of the substance from the puddle with her hand and watched it boil off into the air. An even smaller amount of perfectly clear water was left in her hand, which Gura drank to prove her point.
"Do you remember that black stuff the Shadow Beasts ooze everywhere?" Gura asked Amelia. Various images of the substance Gura was referring to popped into Amelia's mind. After their fight against those creatures, all of them were practically covered head-to-toe in the stuff. Though she didn't remember ever cleaning it off.
"Is that what this is?" Amelia questioned, indicating that she knew what Gura was talking about. Gura nodded in response.
"Every moment they spend alive those things drip this stuff everywhere. When they get injured or die they release a large amount," Gura explained, "It taints everything. Getting into water and food and making it poisonous to anyone who doesn't possess some type of magic."
"So that's why it boils when we touch it," Amelia surmised, scooping some up like Gura had done before, "Our Light magic reacts with its Dark magic and they destroy each other." That explained why all of them were cleaned of the stuff without any effort.
"Yep, and Dark magic users can forcefully expel it with a little more effort," she added, "I make sure to purify all the food and water we get, but thankfully any sealed stuff is perfectly safe."
"That's disgusting," Amelia said, dropping the clear water left in her palm to the floor instead of drinking it, "I assume it is just as bad for normal people to come into contact with it?"
"Those things are perfectly designed to kill normal people. They are big, strong, regenerate quickly from damage and even if you manage to injure or kill one it'll just throw super-magic-poison everywhere," Gura said, standing up quickly out of frustration, "You can't even boil the stuff out of the water. Normal fire just turns the whole thing to steam, which is even more dangerous than the water."
"Normal fire, implying that another kind of fire does boil it out?" Amelia asked, standing up to match Gura.
"If the fire has any magic in it, then it boils the stuff out no problem, leaving just regular, old water," Gura explained. Amelia nodded, following Gura's logic that magic fire should work.
"Now I'm really starting to understand why IRyS was so keen on keeping the Elder Ones away from our universe at any cost..." Amelia said under her breath. Gura suddenly turned to her with a sudden realization.
"Oh and did I mention that it also melts normal people?" Amelia felt a horrible shiver run down her spine upon hearing what Gura said.
"That's just..." Amelia swallowed hard to push the bile rising in her throat back down.
"On the plus side, at least we won't see any dead bodies laying around," Gura said, attempting to find any possible silver lining. Amelia thought about the possibility of her not awakening her magic and getting dissolved into nothing by those hulking monstrosities.
It was no wonder Gura hadn't encountered any other survivors besides them three...
"I guess you can look at it that way..." Amelia said, glancing out the broken front windows of the store, "Honestly, I would be impressed if I wasn't having to live through the aftermath..." Gura lightly patted her on the shoulder. It was clear that Amelia was struggling to cope with all the death that was likely surrounding her. With this being her first scavenging trip, it was certainly a shock.
"At least we don't have to deal with it, especially since we're Light magic users," Gura said, continuing to try to put a positive spin on the situation in whatever way she could. Amelia let out a long sigh and nodded.
"Yeah, we're the lucky ones," Amelia said. After another quiet moment, Amelia pulled her backpack up onto her shoulders, indicating that she was ready to go.
"Well then, let's go and get you some parts, Ms. Lucky Super Genius!" Gura said with a little cheer. She skipped out in front of Amelia, flashing a large smile. Amelia couldn't help but smile, too, as they walked out of the store with backpacks full of supplies.
It only took a single step out of the store for that smile to be wiped off of Amelia's face. It had been over a month since her ears were last stained with this repetitive siren...
The rhythmic ticking began. It was quiet and slow, but Amelia knew exactly what it meant...
They were in danger.
"Gura," Amelia called out in hushed voice to her partner in crime. Gura turned around, a confused look on her face. However, as soon as she saw Amelia's worried expression and nervous pose, she knew exactly the reason for Amelia to call out to her.
During her time spent with both Ina and IRyS, Gura had heard of Amelia's uncanny ability to sense present danger before anyone else realized. It was one of the few things IRyS had praised about Amelia.
"Where is it?" Gura asked in a similar hushed voice. She dropped the duffel bag and walked over closer to Amelia. Her trident began to glow brightly enough to be seen even in the harsh outdoor sunlight.
"It isn't super close, but still too close for my liking," Amelia responded, her voice being slightly louder than before. She had already scanned around without seeing anything and given the slow, quiet nature of the ticking the danger likely wasn't lurking to ambush them. The most likely cause of the danger was that, if they were to continue moving, they were headed on a collision course with a Shadow Beast.
"Do ya have a direction?" Amelia shook her head.
"Let's just move slowly and carefully," she said. Gura trusted her judgement and nodded.
After picking the duffel bag back up, the duo continued in the direction of where Gura thought the electronic store was. Amelia wasn't exactly sure if it was correct, but it seemed close enough to where she remembered it being.
As they moved closer to the city, buildings and debris grew larger. The ticking remained a low, rhythmic tapping against the back of Amelia's mind. It was slightly reassuring that at least they weren't going further into danger, but it would be nice if the danger wasn't there at all.
It took several minutes of slowly moving in silence for Gura to pick up on what Amelia had warned her about.
"It's over there," Gura whispered, pointing her trident towards a crumbling building only a hundred or so feet away. Amelia assumed that Gura's Atlantean nature gave her heightened senses, allowing her to hear or smell this thing from further away.
"Is it just one or multiple?" Amelia asked, also in a whisper. Gura held up a solitary finger, indicating that it was only one. Amelia nodded, shrugging the pack from her shoulders to get ready for a fight.
However, Gura held out her hand, silently telling Amelia to stop. She then flashed her friend a toothy grin.
"Just watch and learn," she said confidently. Gura dropped the duffel bag to the ground, causing a loud thump to cut through the silent air. The ticking jumped in volume and speed.
It had noticed them.
Only a second later, the lumbering creature stepped out from behind the building.
Amelia hadn't really gotten a proper look at a Shadow Beast until now. This one was smaller than the first one, more similar in size to the three they encounter afterwards. It walked on four large legs, appearing similar to a wolf. But this wolf's coat was pitch black, even in the bright sunlight. Amelia could see the substance this thing was made of swirl around and drip onto the ground like hot tar.
It snarled at them, getting ready to attack. Gura shed her backpack and assumed an aggressive stance. A moment later, the Shadow Beast rushed towards them.
The creature wasn't fast, but something around seven feet tall and probably weighing in the thousands shouldn't be able to accelerate so quickly. Gura held her ground as it sprinted straight at her. Amelia couldn't see it, but she was certain that Gura had a wicked smile splitting her face.
When it was only a few yards away from her, Gura finally moved. The Beast opened its jaw, but Gura shoved her trident straight into the lower part of it. Its lower jaw was torn clean off of its head. The force of Gura's attack also stopped it in its tracks.
It gurgled out a cry of pain before trying to slash at Gura. Each of the claws that adorned its massive paw was the size of the Atlantean's arm.
Gura avoided the attack and planted her trident into its leg in one graceful motion. The leg had a massive chunk of flesh torn out of it, causing the Beast to cry out once more.
But now Gura had left its field of vision, leaving Amelia as the only living thing it could see. And like the mindless animal it was, the creature forgot all about the thing actually posing a threat to it and decided to attack Amelia instead.
Gura saw this shift in focus and reacted quickly, pointing the three prongs of her trident at the Beast's head. A stream of water pierced straight through, carrying a large amount of the Beast's flesh with it. Gura then swung her trident to the side, dragging the water jet with it.
The Shadow Beast was nearly cut in half.
However, due to its impressive regeneration, it managed to keep itself in one piece. Amelia even noticed, through her surprise of being suddenly attacked, that the Beast had regenerated most of its jaw in the few seconds since Gura had ripped it off.
The attempt at slicing it in half caused enough pain that the Shadow Beast remembered that Gura was the actual threat. It jumped into the air and pounced on where it thought Gura was.
It was almost correct, but Gura had already moved out of the way by the time it landed. A spiderweb of cracks erupted throughout the concrete and several pounds of dust was kicked up. It wasn't enough to completely obscure anybody's vision, though.
"Destroying or severing large sections of their bodies causes them to waste a lot of energy regenerating," Gura loudly explained to Amelia. She both wanted to make sure that Amelia was understanding what she was doing, but being loud also helped to keep the creature's attention on her.
The Beast tried to wrap its jaws around Gura's small body once again. Gura jumped above its gaping maw right as it tried to bite down on her. She drove her trident firmly into one of its eyes before violently ripping it out, throwing black ooze all across the ground.
"Going after its jaw or eyes is also a good idea." Gura landed on the ground next to it, while the creature pawed at the large wound she had just inflicted. "But the fastest way to kill one of them is to cut off its ugly head!"
Gura's trident glowed a brilliant light blue, as water extended from the end of it. In one motion, she slammed it straight down into the Shadow Beast's neck.
With the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart, Gura's trident cleanly sliced through the creature's neck.
It let out a few more pitiful yelps that turned to dying gurgles before the light in its eyes faded. The body of it twitched for a few seconds before going stiff and still on the ground.
Within Amelia's head, the ticking suddenly fell silent.
Amelia kept a close eye on both its head and body, not fully trusting that it wasn't just playing dead like the first one they encountered. Carefully, she walked over to where Gura was standing. The Atlantean wiped her forehead with an exaggerated motion.
"Whew, sorry I let it go after ya for a moment there," she apologized, gazing upon her latest kill. Amelia shrugged.
"I would've been fine," she said, getting a tiny giggle from Gura in response.
"I'm sure ya would've. Ina and IRyS don't have any real problems with 'em anymore. Honestly, IRyS is probably better than me at it." Amelia turned her head away from Gura and began to walk over to where they dropped their stuff.
"Must be nice being so strong and used to using magic..." she grumbled just loudly enough under her breath for Gura to hear her. She was playing up her frustration a little bit to be funny, but it was a real feeling her harbored. Gura laughed at her.
"I'll let you handle the next one we find."
Both to Amelia's pleasure and displeasure, they did not encounter any more Shadow Beasts on their way to the electronics store. She would have loved to have been able to take one of those things down. But on the other had, the small amount of nervousness within her made her a little glad to not have to deal with such a fight.
Once they arrived, Amelia wasn't surprised to find the electronics store in a similar state to the grocery store. Even if its exterior was in rough shape, the shelves and products were mostly untouched.
"I bet this looks like heaven to you," Gura commented, seeing how Amelia's expression lit up when they entered the store.
"Why can't we just live here?" Amelia asked, only semi-serious. Gura laughed.
"There's nothin' saying you can't," Gura joked. Amelia chuckled at her friend's response. While this place might be a slice of heaven for her, it didn't provide even a quarter of the safety that the bar did. And in this hellish, foreign wasteland where creatures made of toxic darkness roamed the streets, safety was priority number one.
"Well let's at least bring a piece of this heaven back with us," Amelia said, starting to walk deeper into the store. Gura followed her closely behind, like she was afraid she would get lost if her and Amelia were separated.
Amelia's decision to remain at the bar was continually challenged the more she looked around the store. She saw wires, controllers, servos, tools, and equipment, all of which she desperately wanted.
"So do you want to give me a list or just follow you?" Gura asked, not really sure what she should be doing at the moment. Her voice pulled Amelia from her trance.
"It would probably be best if you just stuck with me," Amelia said to her. She didn't want to have to explain a list of things she was looking for. Plus, she was likely going to go to every corner of this place anyways in case she saw something she hadn't thought of. "But feel free to ask me about anything or just talk about random stuff," Amelia added, not wanting an uncomfortable silence to develop. She enjoyed talking with Gura, which was saying a lot coming from her.
"What are ya plannin' to change about this?" Gura asked, simultaneously putting down the duffel bag and tapping the blade fixed to Amelia's wrist with her trident. Amelia gave her a playful giggle.
"It's a surprise," she said with a wide grin, "but I am willing to talk about a couple smaller things I want to upgrade." Gura put her backpack on the floor, as well. She had mostly filled it at the grocery store and Amelia still had plenty of room in hers.
"What are they?" Gura probed after a moment. Amelia crouched down and grabbed something from a lower shelf. She sorted through several items before deciding on one to take. Returning back to standing, she presented what she'd grabbed to Gura.
"This is a servo motor and it'll help me deploy the blade faster," Amelia explained, "Right now I am using a short spring to kind of launch the blade out. This is quite limiting because I have to angle it downwards to reliably get it to fully extend and lock in place. Also, I don't have any way of automatically retracting it. A motor like this would fix all of that and more."
"Why not just always have it extended and only light it when you need to?" Gura asked. Amelia gestured to Gura's trident.
"Don't you ever wish that you could make your weapon smaller while carrying it?" Gura thought for a moment before shrugging.
"I guess, but I haven't ever really minded it all that much."
"Well I do mind, especially since it would be very awkward to pick things up if I had a giant stick extending in front of my hand all the time." Gura opened her mouth to ask a question, but Amelia already knew what she was going to ask and answered it preemptively, "And the reason I have it mounted to my wrist instead of holding it is because it gets really hot while running. By having it mounted in place I can keep the heat away from me, and as an added bonus, I find it easier to focus my magic into it if it stays in one spot." Gura thought for a moment before asking something else.
"Does it get hot because of your incompatibility or the electronics?" Amelia finished putting the servo into her backpack before beginning to walk down the aisle.
Due to factors she didn't understand yet or were out of her control, the crystal housed within her blade was not the most efficient at converting her own magic to energy. Most of her magic was wasted as heat, which was bad for several, obvious reasons.
"A couple weeks ago, the answer would've been the electronics, now it is more or else split equally," Amelia answered after a few seconds of thought, "With these new parts, though, I'll definitely be limited by my own incompatibility. Guess I'll just have to make the crystal like me better than its owner does."
"Have ya thought about trying to find somethin' to replace it?"
"I just have no idea where to start to find something like that," Amelia admitted with a shrug, "Do you have any idea why your trident reacted so well with my magic?" Amelia decided to ask a question this time. Gura poured quite a bit of thought into possible answers, while Amelia dumped whole buckets of components into her backpack.
"I think my trident is just very different from IRyS' crystals," Gura responded after nearly thirty seconds of thought, "The crystals are more like batteries, storin' magic energy for use later, but my trident takes magic in and just releases it. Have you tried one of her daggers out?" Gura vaguely remembered Amelia wielding the light dagger when they first met, but wasn't exactly sure. Amelia nodded, confirming what Gura had asked.
"I did use it for a bit, but it still didn't react the same way your trident did." Amelia stopped walking, allowing Gura to wander up alongside her. She hesitantly held one of her hands out, which Gura quickly understood the meaning of.
With a silly smile stretching across her face, Gura placed the bottom end of her trident into Amelia's outstretched hand. Immediately, the trident began to glow brighter and brighter.
Amelia sort of understood what Gura was talking about earlier. Unlike the crystal, Amelia felt like her very being was extended into the length of the trident. She could push and pull her magic throughout like it was another limb of her body. The dagger had given her a feeling vaguely similar, but nothing nearly this intense.
"It's almost like you're more compatible with it than I am," Gura said with a quiet laugh, "Maybe you could just break a piece off of the bottom and use that instead." Amelia pulled her hand away from the trident, a sad smile barely visible on her face.
"You don't need to do something like that. I'll figure something out," Amelia said with a light sigh. She began walking and looking at the various items on the shelves. Once they were back at the bar, Amelia wanted to do some quick experiments with Gura's trident. Maybe she could figure out a way to make the crystal more compatible with her or maybe she could convert something from non-magical to magical.
"All I'm sayin' is that you shouldn't hold onto that crystal for too long. It is limiting you and IRyS both," Gura said, keeping up with Amelia as they walked.
"Until I have a better solution, this is what's best right now," Amelia told her. They both continued walking, a brief lull in the conversation draping a blank of silence over top of them. Amelia felt as though Gura wanted to say something, but just couldn't find the right words.
"Why do you hate IRyS so much?" Gura suddenly broke the silence between them with a question. Quickly after, she made several noises of hesitation, "Wait, uh, that sounds stupid, um..." she paused for another few seconds, attempting to find a better phrasing for her question.
"I know IRyS tried to kill ya, I know that. But I just don't understand why, after all this time, do you still hold it against her. I mean, she didn't kill you and she apologized for tryin' to. You have one of her crystals and she lets you experiment with it a lot. What more do you want from her?"
Amelia continued walking without pause while Gura said her piece. Once Gura was done, she kept walking, not saying a word in response. It was only when she reached a specific shelf that she stopped and sighed deeply.
She didn't want to get angry and snap at Gura, who was clearly just curious about the situation between herself and IRyS. Still though, it really ticked her off needing to talk about IRyS so frequently today. A good day in her current life would involve next to zero mentions of IRyS at all.
After many more quiet, unmoving seconds, Amelia finally spoke, "I have always had trouble dealing with people," her voice was confident, as she loudly explained for Gura to hear her reasons, "For the vast majority of my life, I was awkward and unsure of myself. It was difficult for me to take compliments or criticism, so I would just laugh a lot of it off. If someone was rude to me or someone close to me, I couldn't properly hold a grudge against them because I always wondered if maybe I or they were actually in the wrong and I was getting worked up for nothing. I held zero confidence in my own thoughts and emotions.
It was only when I got a taste of the real world that I realized multiple things about myself. Not only was everyone just as unsure about themselves and their actions as I was, but I was way further above average than I gave myself credit for. I was smarter, a faster learner, and more experienced than most of my peers and even people in positions above me.
But the most important lesson I learned, was that my lack of self-confidence was going to be my greatest problem in life. That was, if I didn't make some changes to myself.
So I did, and my life improved greatly because of it. My newfound self-image and confidence allowed me to take advantage of opportunities I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. It is because of that radical shift in mindset that I was able to get a fantastic job so quickly out of college and then excel within my new job just as quickly.
It is also because of that shift that I am able to stay sane in this crazy place..."
Amelia paused for a moment, taking a long breath. She crouched down to grab something from a lower shelf.
"IRyS tried to kill both me and Ina, that is a fact," Amelia said in a more relaxed tone compared to before, "Sometimes, I wonder if she might've actually been successful, given how I am basically in hell now."
As Amelia placed a spool of wire into her backpack, she noticed a pair of shoes that were not where she had expected Gura to be. A quick glance up revealed that this figure was indeed not Gura, but instead a new being that only she could perceive.
The Vessel of the Elder Ones stood above her, pointing one of its blades down towards her face. The sharp tip of that blade was barely a couple inches away from the bridge of Amelia's nose.
Just like the ticking, Amelia hadn't seen the Vessel in quite some time. It was startling to have such an imposing figure suddenly appear directly next to her.
Amelia had been opening herself up to Gura, so she was already feeling a little mentally vulnerable. But now because this thing apparently couldn't understand humor, she was feeling quite physically vulnerable, too.
"Hey, are you ok?" Gura asked, placing a comforting hand on Amelia's shoulder, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'll just drop it if-"
"I'm fine, Gura, just collecting my thoughts is all," Amelia said, turning and giving a small smile to her worried friend. When she turned back to where the Vessel had been, she was greeted with nothing but air. Amelia sighed and stood up.
"I just want all of us to get along because we only really have each other out here," Gura admitted. She slowly rocked back and forth on her heels, only briefly making eye contact with Amelia before glancing somewhere else.
"You have a very optimistic world view, Gura, but unfortunately reality doesn't care how optimistic you are," Amelia responded, "It'll crush you all the same."
"But it's not up to reality or anyone but you and IRyS if you guys get along with each other," Gura rebutted. Amelia shrugged apathetically.
"IRyS made that choice for the both of us when she tried to kill me," Amelia said, her voice monotone and jaded, "Unlike the me before college, I don't forgive easily anymore."
"You could at least give her another chance..." Gura mumbled under her breath. Amelia heard her, but chose not to respond. She instead began to walk down the aisles with dozens of different types of electronic components flanking either side. Gura continued to follow her with a tiny, but noticeable, gap between them now.
Truth be told, Amelia was actually beginning to warm up to the idea of giving IRyS another chance, if only because Gura was asking her to. In her eyes, IRyS was still a merciless killer without a proper moral compass. But maybe, just maybe, something in IRyS' messed up mind had actually changed for the better.
It wasn't easy for Amelia to begin to even accept that thought, let alone for it to be true. The world was only getting crazier by the minute, so anything she could keep the same would help her remain sane. Dealing with the moral implications of a merciless killer becoming kinder was not something she really wanted to deal with right now.
'But I am indeed capable of admitting when I am wrong, unlike you.'
'Try to be useful out there, Amelia!'
The words of said merciless killer rang loudly in her head. Amelia couldn't help but grimace upon hearing them once again. Each sound scraped against her mind like sandpaper on wood. Just like earlier, her thoughts were eroded away until the only thing she could focus on were IRyS' words.
Except, unlike all the previous times she'd weighed these words, Amelia did not attempt to figure out what the words meant. Instead, she tried to ascertain why the words were said.
For the next hour, as Amelia and Gura gathered electronics and engaged in smalltalk, the detective grappled with the motive behind IRyS' words. Maybe that could lead her to figuring out what they meant.
Still though, something didn't make sense about the two statements on a fundamental level to her. It was clear as to why the first statement about Amelia being unable to admit when she was wrong stuck with her so clearly. However, the second statement seemed more like a sarcastic, cruel joke, rather than an honest attempt at poking a hole in Amelia's ego.
This problem caused Amelia to run into a roadblock, just like her previous line of thinking had. Despite her change in approach to analyzing IRyS' words, nothing really changed.
She was still lacking some crucial piece of information...
Maybe she would talk to IRyS, after all. Her innate curiosity practically demanded that she do as such.
"You gettin' close to finishing up here?" Gura asked her, noticing that they had nearly circled back around to the entrance of the store. Amelia, noticing the same thing, shifted the backpack around on her shoulders. It was getting fairly heavy and she had gathered all of what she had come here for plus some extra goodies.
"Yeah, we can start heading back now if you want," Amelia replied. When Gura didn't immediately answer, Amelia glance over to see what was going on. Gura looked out the shattered front entrance with a stare that was a thousand yards long. When she noticed Amelia looking at her, she quickly fixed her gaze onto her instead.
"Do you think we can take a bit of a detour first?" Gura asked with a slight hesitation in her voice. Amelia didn't think long before responding.
"Sure, why not?" she agreed, causing Gura's expression to grow slightly happier. Amelia didn't want to be more of a pain than she thought she already way. Also, they were here specifically for her, so it was only fair that Gura could go somewhere she wanted to, as well.
It took just over half an hour of walking for them to reach the place Gura wanted to visit. This placed them around an hour away from where the bar was located.
Amelia kept her questions about where they were going and why to herself. If Gura wanted her to know, she would've told her. This meant that Gura wanted to keep it a secret until they got there, which Amelia respected.
These questions were quickly answered once they arrived. They crested a small hill that once was lush with green grass and many tall trees. All that remained now was small patches of blackened, dead plants and a single withered tree that hadn't yet fallen over.
"See them all?" Gura asked, pointing a single finger off into the center of the city. They were now well within the outskirts of the desolate metropolis. Amelia squinted, trying to focus on the area Gura was calling attention to.
A small gasp escaped her lips when she finally realized what she was looking at.
Dozens of Shadow Beasts roamed the streets in the distance. But as Amelia continued watching them, it became apparent that they weren't really roaming. Their movements were not aimless, as roaming might imply.
They were circling a particular building.
"That's where my friends are trapped," Gura said with perfect timing, seemingly able to tell when Amelia had figured out what was going on.
"There's so many..." Amelia whispered, unable to pull her eyes away from the swarm of Beasts in the distance. The lack of ticking told her for certain that they had not noticed them, but she still felt threatened by the sheer number of them.
"Those are just the ones you can see from here," Gura told her, "They have the whole building completely surrounded, meaning there are plenty more ya can't see on the other sides." After a few more seconds of staring, Amelia picked her jaw up from ground and turned to Gura.
"So that's what you have to get through to get back to your friends, huh?" Amelia said, her tone changing to a more confident one. She wanted to show Gura that she still absolutely planned on helping her regroup with her friends.
But something didn't make sense.
If Shadow Beasts had the whole place surrounded, then why would Gura willingly get herself trapped with the rest of her group?
"I haven't been entirely honest with you about that..." Gura said in a nervous voice. She rocked back and forth on her heels just like she had earlier in the electronic store. Amelia knew that she was about to get an answer to the question she had just asked herself.
"I don't want to go back... I want to get them all out."
Author's Note: A bit shorter of a gap between chapters this time and I was still able to reach my goal of 10k+ words, as well!
The first thing I would like to mention is the perspective that this story is currently being told from. Amelia has been, and will continue to be, the lens that this world is viewed through. This is important because a lot of what is written might seem contradictory if it isn't contextualized as being seen through Amelia's perspective. She isn't the most reliable of narrators and she has a tendency to hide things from herself that she doesn't want to deal with at the moment. With that being said though, other character's perspectives will slowly be mixed in as the story progresses.
I wasn't expecting the first part, Amelia's daily routine and conversation with Gura, to be as long as it ended up being. That is starting to become a pattern, but I'm not opposed to it. It might make certain sections take a little longer to write than planned, but it does mean they have a lot more detail and feel fuller than they otherwise would.
Amelia not realizing how strong she's become nicely ties in with the theme of 'Amelia needs to expand her horizons' that is present throughout the whole chapter. She has effectively and successfully adapted to her new environment, but that isn't good enough if she wants to do more than just survive. She needs to be willing to push every piece of her beyond its respective limit. And yes, that includes her social boundaries with IRyS :)
The reason behind society's total ruin has also now been revealed. Magic super poison that can't be removed from food and water that can also melt non-magical living tissue would pose quite the problem to the survival of mankind. I will confirm that Mumei is still alive, if very sick, so some of human civilization is still alive and kicking. For how much longer is unknown, though...
I'll speedrun through my last few thoughts. I think I'm getting better at writing fights, as the short one in this chapter was quite easy for me to write. Amelia seems to like Gura enough to not want to get angry with her. She did something similar with Ina at the very beginning of the story. Gura seems to be winning the battle to get Amelia and IRyS on at least not-hating-each-other terms. And finally, Gura reveals her true intentions of getting her friends out of the prison they are trapped in.
One final thing I want to mention: This chapter was supposed to progress the story a lot more than it actually did. Obviously, I can't really talk about future events in detail, but this chapter was supposed to end with Council's reintroduction to the story. However, due to my underestimation of how much I would write for this section, this chapter has been split into three. I hope it doesn't feel like the story is dragging during this section, but I focus on these characters' experiences out in the wasteland before the big picture stuff (ie. Council and the Elder Ones) comes back in. This is a mainly character drive story, even if it doesn't seem like it right now. My biggest regret in writing has always been not taking my time to build characters properly, so I'll be attempting to finally do that here.
Next Chapter: What Friends Are For
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!