Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

"Shit!"

John gasped as he narrowly avoided missing a jump across a platform. Normally, this wouldn't have been an issue were it not for the rows of spikes waiting for him to slip up once more. Again, this was just for show, but as displayed from the first-year finals, the protective measures that were in place for most of the students didn't work on him.

He checked his bag. Two pills were inside. There was no way he would need any more than that, not with the consequences they yielded.

Technically speaking, he could take one every day. The results of the pill were similar to [Infinity] in the sense that they were simply a way to amplify his current strength. It was just that the downside was far greater than [Infinity] was. However, that downside could be avoided by simply proceeding as normal. If he took a pill and never used its abilities, he would never be "borrowing" his future energy and would never run out early.

However, there was Zero to think about. Even if his [Reader] self wouldn't be coming out any time soon, it would be pretty cruel to put him through something like this.

"John," Prota grumbled as she helped him up.

She didn't like their current predicament. There were way too many things that could kill him. This wasn't a problem for ordinary students, since their safety device would quickly teleport them out of harm's way. However, as they'd discovered on the island, the thing didn't exactly work for John. Now, in a castle designed to eliminate students, her brother's life was at risk more than ever.

"I'll be fine," John sighed. "Besides, didn't Lupin explain that we can get around this? You just need to give me some mana. Or, I guess now that I can get some myself…"

"No," Prota said firmly. "Only if an emergency."

"Oh, come on!"

"I'm not carrying John," Prota said, crossing her arms. "You fall asleep too easily."

"I- no, I don't!"

"You fall asleep too easy. Cave of Trials. The chimera. Exam."

"Yeah, but I can't-"

"No."

Well, that was that. Once Prota had her mind set on something like this, there was no beating it. She would outstubborn John, and that was something, considering how stubborn he could be on certain issues.

They continued through the castle, the mapping system working well to their advantage. The halls were all very similar to the untrained eye, and neither of them was good at navigation. While their ability to hunt for treasure wasn't enhanced in any way, at the very least, they'd prevent backtracking and exploring already seen areas.

Additionally, this time around, John was carrying his weight. Well, what little weight he could. His bat was still a formidable weapon, capable of bashing in the heads of the various monsters littering the halls. Because they would come out alone or in pairs, they were usually easy enough for John to deal with on his own.

Of course, Prota insisted on doing everything on her own, and there was a valid argument from both parties. Since she could now use Soul Steal freely, this meant she wasn't at risk of running out of mana anytime soon. On the other hand, using magic still drained her mental stamina, and given that John had no idea what was coming for them, it was safer to ensure that she was in top form at all times.

Aside from that, though, the entire thing was rather pleasant.

"Wow…" Prota gasped as they pushed through a set of shattered double doors, stepping out onto a balcony.

Below was the ruined courtyard, with crumbling stone sculptures covered in snow, ruined fountains, and gardens masked by the pure, untouched white of winter.

"I know we're in the middle of an exam, but that's pretty damn cool," John grinned, leaning against the railing. "I- whoah!"

Prota's arm shot out, catching him just in time. John's other arm flailed wildly as he struggled to regain his balance, but he eventually got back onto stable ground.

"...the wood was rotten. That makes sense," he muttered, his heart pounding heavily.

"John," Prota said with a small frown.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry!" John said, raising his hands in surrender. "Look, that wasn't even entirely my fault, ok? You just have to-"

He went silent as the sounds of footsteps grew louder. He put a finger to his lips, crouching down. It was most likely just another student, but if it happened to be something else…

"John? Prota?" a familiar voice called out.

"Destiny?"

John frowned. The silver-haired boy came sprinting up, but he wasn't out of breath.

"I thought I heard your voices. It's lucky I found you. How're you guys doing?"

"Uh… Prota got a couple of decent treasures. Her mana control is pretty good, even for the machines meant for fighters, so I think we're managing. I was thinking of heading back tomorrow. What's up?"

"Draco left."

"...you came here to tell us that?"

"Well, no. I wasn't looking for you guys or anything.," Destiny shrugged. "Man, cool view, huh?"

"Dude, you live in a castle."

"I live in a building on royal grounds. Not the same thing. Besides, there's something a little romantic about this, isn't there?"

"...yeah. I guess. Still, you didn't answer my question. What's up?"

"Draco's gone."

John frowned, pulling a piece of jerky out of his bag. "Again, you found us just to say that? I mean, thanks, but don't you think your time would be better spent doing something else?"

"No." Destiny shook his head. "Believe it or not, you mutter in your sleep during class. You kept saying stuff about how 'everything matters' and something like 'the numbers, what do they mean?' or something like that. But I have a feeling this is something you'd want to know."

"I- huh." John frowned, eyes flicking back and forth as he processed what Destiny had just said. "Thanks."

"No problem. So. Does this mean anything?"

"Not yet. I don't think so. But it might mean something eventually, and that's a lot more important."

Destiny nodded, getting up. "Well, good to know it helped with something. Teach me how you figure these things out someday, won't you?"

"Nope. That'd be awful," John grinned. "But I'll be your info broker for as long as you need me to be."

The two shook hands, and Destiny ran off, leaving John and Prota alone.

"Draco is… gone?"

"Yeah, I don't know what it means," John said, turning his gaze back to the courtyard. "But, well… could be something. Who knows?"

Suddenly, he spotted something glowing in one of the various fountains. He had no way to feel the mana coming from it, but it looked familiar enough that he knew where to go next.

"Alright. Let's grab another treasure!"

~~~

It'd only been a day since the exam had started, but a third of the students had already been sent to the waiting area. Like the previous exam, it was well furnished with all sorts of amenities, from spa rooms with private attendants to personal hot tubs.

While such things were incredibly enjoyable, most of the students hadn't planned on coming back this early. They'd been eliminated due to a reckless ambition or a miscalculation. Rushing through halls only to get caught by a trapdoor or ignoring a swarm of monsters to complete just one more task were common mistakes the students made.

Still, they'd done well.

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Lupin and Leora, however, were focused solely on the exam at hand.

"What do you think?" Lupin said in a low voice, sitting in the cabin provided exclusively for him. "Do you sense anything strange?"

"I do not. But this island is not protected by a barrier. And this time, we are also inside. Should something happen, we will be able to intervene immediately."

"Hm…"

The old wolf didn't seem convinced. Well, it was in his nature to be wary.

"Are you concerned about them?"

Those in question didn't need to be named. There were only two children who needed to be watched.

John Quarta. Prota Char. Both were oddities in their own right, and both were the only ones left after dealing with the cultists half a year ago.

Why were they here? What did they want? No matter how much Lupin thought about it, he couldn't figure it out. Granted, that woman had told him to watch out for the boy, but the boy was definitely the lesser of the pair. The girl was the formidable one. Advanced mana reinforcement, Soul Steal, a natural talent for handling mana, and an incredible combat sense to top it off, she was the one who needed watching.

The boy was manaless. Yes, he carried himself with an air of confidence, and yes, he had his moments, but why was it he they needed to watch out for?

And yet it was the boy whose circumstances seemed to revolve around. Yes, the girl was always present, but somehow, Lupin felt as if it were the boy attracting the issues and the girl who was the solution to said problems.

"I don't know if that's the right question," he said quietly.

Leora poured him a cup of goldenrose tea. "Then what is?"

"Perhaps I am not concerned for them. It would be more apt to say that I am concerned about them. Should something occur… perhaps it is better to wait and see, this time."

"Lupin! What happened last time-"

"Ended well. The safety devices worked, and from what the boy told us, they never had the intention to kill in the first place. It was only he who stood in harm's way. And this time, we possess the ability to interfere should it be necessary."

Leora sighed, putting the teapot down.

"I understand your need for concern, but are you sure this isn't going too far?"

"It most definitely is not. It isn't just the boy I'm concerned about."

Leora went silent at that.

"Ah. I understand."

She sat down, watching the various magical monitoring devices scattered around the castle. The air seemed far heavier than when they'd started their conversation.

~~~

"Alright! How many is this? Seven? Eight?"

Prota put the orb into her dimension ring and nodded.

"Eight."

"Hm… this is enough, right? Should we just head back now?"

"Nothing happened."

The boy, who'd initially been cheering, suddenly stopped and turned to face his sister.

"Hey. What'd you just say?"

"Nothing happened. We can't leave yet."

"What- why would you think that?"

Prota was a little confused. Why was he asking her this? Shouldn't he know? After all, this was a conclusion she'd reached by [Reading] between the lines. Every exam, something of interest had happened. She'd gotten her revenge on Draco. They'd been attacked by cultists.

On the other hand, nothing of interest had occurred yet. There was no way this could end here. Maybe John was testing her?

"Um… the [Story]," Prota stammered, trying to explain. "Nothing happened yet. So… something is going to happen. So we can't leave."

John glared at her, and she shrank back. What? What had she done wrong?

"Hey," he said quietly, grabbing her shoulders. "When did you learn to think like that?"

Prota tilted her head in confusion. She didn't understand. Hadn't he been training her for this?

"I watch John."

He suddenly let go of her, staggering back as he covered his face with his hands. She could see his mouth moving, but the words he was muttering were inaudible.

"No, no," he muttered, eyes wide. "No, you weren't supposed to think like that. That's- it's not good for you. It's not good for anybody."

"But John-"

"I do it because I have to. You don't get it." He truly seemed desperate. "I have to think like this. My memories, first of all, contain moments of me in [Reality]. But the other thing is that if I forget that this is a [Story], then that means I'll forget what I'm here for. This whole world being [Fiction] is who I am."

Prota nodded. So far, though, nothing seemed that bad about what he'd said. What was the point?

"Prota, this isn't something good. Yes, I use it to my advantage, but that's only because I have to. I don't get to use [Infinity] freely. I don't get to use overpowered tools and weapons more than once or twice, and only when it's convenient. I use it because I have no other choice. To anybody else, getting comfortable with this mindset is a curse."

"But John told me-"

"I told you because you needed to understand," John said, his words spilling out faster and faster. "It's something you can understand, something you can think about, but to start to bury it into your subconscious, to accept it as a matter of fact… that's something you should never do."

Prota was stunned. She thought-

"I need you. I'll probably never say this again, but the way you are right now is all I need, ok? I don't need another me. I've got Zero for that. I need you."

Right. She'd realized that thinking the way John thought was wrong, hadn't she? Back when she'd been going to fight Doctor. Back when she'd fought against the twins. She'd almost fallen into the trap of seeing them as "nuisances," as obstacles that simply needed to be removed. She knew such a way of thinking was wrong.

And yet, it was undoubtedly helpful. She saw John use it to his advantage all the time. And yet, she saw the consequences of it as well. When he'd been willing to sacrifice Danjo. When he'd killed bandits over and over for training. His lack of reluctance to kill. His desire to let Olivia die.

It was as if he were walking a fine line, and tipping over to either side meant certain death. She wanted to walk that line with him, but she couldn't. She understood that now. If anything, her identity was grounding him, keeping him balanced. He didn't need a second person to walk the tightrope with him. He needed something to tie the line to, so he could walk from one side to the other.

"Haah… don't scare me like that again, ok? Although you do bring up a good point."

And just like that, he was back to normal.

"Nothing's happened yet. I heard there's some pretty good stuff once we get out, but I guess that'll have to wait. I did make that deal with the king, after all, and you're right. If anything weird is gonna happen, it's gonna happen now."

~~~

Weird things were happening faster than John had thought. Destiny was running through the halls, collecting treasures at a far faster rate than Prota was. This was mainly due to the fact that she had to essentially lug John around with her, but part of it was also his motivation to get stronger.

He couldn't rely on John for everything. He was undoubtedly strong in his own right, but John was easily put out of commission. Take this summer, for example. How often had he turned back, looking to ask a familiar face for counsel, only to be met with nobody? How many times had he asked his sister, his father, and his mother for advice, only for them to tell him things he'd already thought of?

John was formidable, but he was also becoming someone Destiny was a little too reliant on. The brain was just as equally a muscle as any other part of his body, and it, too, required training, else it would atrophy and become useless.

"I hope everyone at home is ok," he muttered as he continued to walk down the halls.

The heavy overcoat he wore kept him warm, but the cold continued to bite at his face. The halls were quite breezy, with drafts constantly blowing their way in. Somehow, he'd failed to run into any other students after meeting John and Prota. Where was everyone? Yes, this was a big castle, but the odds of running into nobody were slim.

"Wait," Destiny said, stopping in his tracks. "Meeting nobody… there's no way that many kids dropped out this early. Unless somebody's going around taking other students out? No, that's not possible. Unless it's another student- no, but then they would've been removed as well, and there would still be tons of other teams left."

He started pacing, keeping a firm grip on his blade. Something felt off. He didn't have the type of knowledge John had, but even he could tell that there was some sort of foreign party at play.

The situation was just too similar to that of the summer exam for the situation to be nothing.

"John," he muttered, a shudder running through his body.

He could get out if Prota forced some mana into his safety device, but in an emergency, that wouldn't be possible. He shouldn't have left them. Draco leaving had been strange. He'd gone to John because it'd felt strange. And yet he'd failed to act on this feeling, assuming that John would deal with it.

"Damn," he cursed, turning around, but somehow, the hall he was in felt different.

It'd been cold before, but now it was absolutely frigid, as if someone were lowering the temperature artificially. And had the corridor always been this long? He couldn't quite see the end, and he was sure he hadn't made it this far down.

"What in the world?"

He pulled out his blade, eyes flickering back and forth as he scanned for potential enemies. His mana reinforcement was already better than most of his classmates, not just because of its quality, but because of his training with Lupin. He could feel energy coursing through his muscles, solidifying his bones and enhancing his nerves, allowing him to feel even the slightest change in the air around him.

"Come out!" he yelled, lighting his blade on fire, holding it high like a torch.

The shadows on the walls seemed longer than usual. His voice echoed, bouncing all over, rebounding into his ears over and over. Somewhere inside, the sound of laughter could be heard. Or was this just his imagination? He couldn't tell.

"John, what's-"

He caught himself. John wasn't here. And here he was, relying on him once again. No, he had to use his own brain to get out of this one.

This wasn't illusion magic. He'd enhanced his mind with mana, and he would've been able to detect if it were an illusion or not. Thank goodness it wasn't, because he would've had no idea how to break out of it if it were. But if it wasn't that, then why did the surroundings seem so strange? So surreal?

"The shadows," he muttered, starting to sprint down the hall.

They didn't change. They were still long, and while they shifted according to his light, they felt off, as if they were moving just a second too late.

Suddenly, something shot out from the floor, and Destiny dodged just in time. What in the world? He looked down, but there was nothing there. No arrow, no spike, no blade. This wasn't one of the castle's traps.

"The shadows," Destiny said again, with more conviction this time.

Something was off about them. He couldn't tell what, but he could tell there was something.

"Think, Destiny," he muttered, slowly turning round and round, trying to find something out of the ordinary, something to identify the issue.

Think. Think like John. He often used the surrounding environment, something obscure, something random, but he found something. He used a sort of base point to jump off of, to support a strange theory that somehow always worked.

"What the-"

He whirled around, almost out of instinct, his blade barely parrying a dark, wispy spike protruding from the shadows. It vanished in a puff of smoke as quickly as it'd appeared, leaving no trace of an attack behind.

"Who are you?!" he cried out, but all he could hear was faint laughter.

Hee hee hee…

It mocked him, rang from the end of the hall as if the source were mocking him, inviting him to try and escape.

His instincts were yelling at him. Something was wrong. Very wrong. But he just couldn't figure out what it was. And until he could figure out what it was, he couldn't risk moving from this spot. That was something he'd learned in both his previous life and this one.

Never act without knowing what you're up against first. Recon is always more important than combat.

"Show yourself!"

Another spike shot out, but he was ready this time. Parrying the attack, he tried to plunge his blade into the wall, but metal clashed against stone, creating sparks and nothing else.

"Oh, what a foolish boy you are."

"Who are you?!"

"Who am I? Maybe I'm your greatest fear. Are you afraid of the dark, little boy?"

The hall, once lit by Destiny's flames, suddenly began to grow darker. The shadows crawled forward as if they were alive, reaching out like tendrils, creeping ever so slowly toward the singular source of light that kept them alive.

"Well, if you aren't, then by the end of this, I'll make sure you are."