Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

The rest of the time spent in the village was rather quiet. There was no party, parade, or celebration. It was just a boring week of recovery spent in the hospital, cooped up in bed. It didn’t help that he and Prota were perfectly healthy anyway, but the doctors said a week of rest, so a week of rest they would get.

Kit remained in her fox form for most of that time, refusing to explain why. Destiny apparently knew the reason, but he wasn’t talking. John didn’t mind. It would become relevant at some point, and if he was going to follow Destiny, he’d eventually find out.

Albert was doing well. He’d brought back the man known as Breaker with him, although he was now locked up in jail, serving time for the crimes he’d committed. John wasn’t all too concerned about him. Evidently, he’d had a role in the [Story], but John didn’t care to find out what that was. If it was relevant, he would’ve heard about it.

It seemed that whatever had happened in that dungeon had positively affected Albert. He had a new fire in his eyes and was now carrying his axes with him when he went out. He’d come to visit once, mainly to ask John about what had happened during his stay.

It hadn’t been a pleasant conversation, though. John had explained. How the slaves were people whose souls had been trapped inside of themselves, forced into becoming slaves against their will. Walking corpses begging to be set free. Nobody liked it, but once John was done, everyone had to accept it. The slaves had to be killed. No, rather, it would be more apt to say that the slaves needed to be put to rest. That couldn’t be considered living.

“There’s no cure?”

“This wasn’t a disease,” John scoffed. “And if there was some kind of way to reverse it, the only man who would’ve known how to do so is dead.”

“You don’t happen to…” Albert said, looking at John hopefully.

John grimaced. He hated to let this man down so badly, but he was out of miracles in a literal sense.

“I can guess, old man, but do you really want to try to solve all this off a guess? What do you think I am, an omnipotent god? I wish.”

Albert nodded. “I understand. I… no, you did fine. You all did well.”

The conversation ended with some awkward small talk, a bit of discussion about future plans from that point on, and Albert had bid them a fond farewell, telling them to meet him one last time before leaving.

Just like that, a quiet week passed. They’d be gone soon. It felt strange, to be ending it all in such a quiet way. The final fight had been… well, nothing. No epic finale. No exchange of ideals, no dramatic power up, no agony and struggle. It’d just blown over, like a leaf in the wind.

“Finally,” John said, stretching. He was dressed in his usual attire, much to his pleasure. He’d been in bed all week since his hospital gown wasn’t red. Showing his back would’ve raised questions he couldn’t answer.

“Ready to leave?”

“There’s a lot to do still, isn’t there?”

“...yeah, I guess there is.”

Destiny grimaced as he picked up his sword from his pile of belongings, not that there was much left of them. He looked at the broken remains of his mask, then decided to leave them behind. He didn’t need it anymore.

“Oh, you’re all up. I’d like to perform one last physical on you all,” the doctor said, entering the room. He was an old shrivelled up man, with thinning grey hair and thick glasses.

“...is this really necessary?” John said.

“I cannot let an injured patient leave my hospital!” the doctor huffed. “It would go against my pride.”

“Come on, John, just let the man do his job,” Fate said. “We waited a week. What’s a little more?”

“He can let me go, or he can become a patient in his own hospital. Choose,” John glared. He was really sick of the hospital.

The doctor frowned, but sighed and shook his head. “Very well. And… thank you.”

“...?”

“I heard what you did for our town. I am an… old acquaintance of Albert’s. I was taking care of that fool long before he made a name for himself. So he told me what happened.”

Destiny nodded. “No, thank you. Our acts weren’t anything especially heroic. The people in this town still suffer from the aftermath.”

The doctor nodded. “That may be true, but still. You young’uns have done something incredible. Best of luck.”

The group walked through the halls to the main entrance, out the doors into the fresh spring air. Prota stretched like a cat, taking in a deep breath as the breeze blew through her hair, sending it spilling everywhere.

“Ahh, freedom,” John sighed, tilting his head back to smell the wind. “How nice.”

“You were subjected to torture, tied to a cross, nearly died, and this is what you’re excited about?” Destiny scoffed, giving John a light punch on the shoulder. “Really?”

“There was a purpose to all of that. There was no reason for me to be in the hospital.” John’s scarf fluttered in the wind as he put his hands behind his head. “The freedom is so much sweeter.”

“You make no sense at all.”

There were smiles on everyone’s faces, even Prota’s, although her smile was just a twitch of the lips. She reached up for John to pick her up, and he hoisted her above his head, putting her on his shoulders.

“I’m gonna go to our inn and sleep some more.”

“More? But-”

“Oh, by the way.”

“Hm?”

“I’m gonna go visit Danjo tomorrow. You, uh… you wanna come?”

Destiny’s eyes widened.

“I cannot believe you just made that offer. You sure you didn’t hit your head or something? Maybe we should’ve gotten you checked up one more time after all.”

“It’s… it’s just nice, I guess. Besides, you were gonna do it anyway, right?”

“...yeah, I was. Alright. I’ll see you at the guild. You think you’ll get up on time?”

John glanced at Prota. “Probably.”

“Wake him up,” Destiny said, nodding at Prota, who nodded back. John felt a shiver run down his spine. He wasn’t looking forward to an ice bath first thing in the morning.

John hadn’t been lying about sleeping. As soon as he got back to his room, he threw himself onto his bed without even changing, burying his face in his pillow as he spread his limbs out like a starfish.

“Mm… sleep…”

Just like that, he closed his eyes. How John was sleeping was a mystery to Prota, but she was long since used to these kinds of things. Trying to understand John was simply impossible. It was better to just leave things as is. She took off her cloak and hopped into her own bed, embracing the soft and fluffy comfort she’d been deprived of for so long.

~~~

“You woke up on time,” Destiny said, waving as he munched on a piece of toast. “I’m guessing-”

“Shut it. Don’t say anything,” John grumbled, sitting down. His hair was wet, and there were small pieces of ice still hanging from the ends.

Destiny sighed as he looked at Prota, whose eyes were dancing in amusement. It was clear as to what had taken place in John’s room that morning.

“Did you eat?”

“No, but I’ll be fine.”

“Prota?”

“I made her a sandwich.”

“...your inn has supplies?”

“Don’t worry about it,” John said, standing up. “Come on, are we going to see Danjo or not?”

John felt a twinge of disgust as he looked up at the hospital building. He never wanted to come here again, but… well, he’d probably truly never come here again after he left this town, so he could bear with it a little longer.

“Oh, hello there,” the receptionist said as the group entered. “Is- is there an issue?”

“No, we’re all fine. I’m looking for Danjo. And his sister,” John added.

“Danjo… ah, yes. He should currently be in the visitor’s room.”

“Why is he there? Didn’t he get permission to stay in his sister’s treatment room?”

“Yes, but he refused to go home, and guests cannot sleep in hospital rooms,” the receptionist sighed. “So we let him pull some chairs together and form a makeshift bed.”

“Um… got it,” John nodded.

“Thank you,” Destiny said, leading the way.

Sure enough, they found the small dwarf sleeping on a makeshift bed of chairs, a thin blanket draped over him. The sight was somewhat pitiful.

“Oi. Danjo,” John said, giving a little shake. “You up?”

“I… what? John? Fate?” Danjo mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He squinted, then patted around for his glasses. Destiny found them first and handed them over.

“How’s Olivia doing?”

Draco wiped his glasses before putting them on and smiled.

“She’s doing really great!” he beamed. “The doctors kept telling her not to use healing magic, but she did it anyway… but it turned out that it was better for her, because most of her injuries are gone. They’re just treating her for, um… what was it…”

“Malnutrition?” John offered. “Psychological trauma?”

“Those are… two very different things,” Destiny said in a low tone. “What are you thinking?”

“What?” John shrugged, not bothering to stay quiet. “Both are viable options here.”

“Malnutrition, I think,” Danjo muttered. “Anyways, she’s up and talking and stuff. I… I got to catch up with her over the past week. It was nice.”

He blinked in surprise as tears began to fall down his cheeks. He reached up slowly and wiped them away, but more came to replace them. He, too, had gone through a lot, even if John, Destiny and Prota hadn’t been there for it.

Orphaned to adopted. A loving older sister who was the only family he’d ever known. The only person that allowed him to pursue his dreams, despite his shy and introverted nature, the person who’d coaxed out the genius from the shell. Then she’d disappeared, and Danjo had been left alone.

Despite his cautious and shy nature, he’d gone out looking for her. She meant to much to him for him to lose her, but he’d ended up in the same trap that she had, subjected to traumas that would likely never be erased. He hadn’t shown any signs of them during their fights, probably because of how intense his focus was, but he was likely scarred beyond repair.

Then he’d been rescued, and he trained. Trained for something he never thought he’d do, trained to fight and survive, all to rescue his sister. He wasn’t built for this, but he’d been forced into it. In a sense, he had it the worst out of everyone. Going into something he’d never wanted to do, but the alternative was worse. He’d acted out of a sense of obligation and fear, not out of a drive to accomplish a goal.

“Danjo. You were brave,” Destiny muttered, taking a seat beside Danjo as he took off his glasses and began sobbing. “You’ve been through a lot, right?”

John watched in silence. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. The lives lost. The tortured souls. Wasn’t it because of him?

He hadn’t asked to be put in this world, but a consequence of his interference was that a power equal to his rose up to provide a “challenge.” Doctor was never meant to be in this story. Destiny losing to Doctor was proof of that. The [Protagonist] wasn’t supposed to lose here. So if John was the only one who could beat Doctor, then that meant that Doctor existed because of John.

Maybe something else would’ve taken place had he not been here. Maybe others would have died. Olivia probably would’ve been kidnapped either way. But Doctor had done something truly terrible here.

Then, by extension, all of the people who’d suffered by Doctor’s hands had suffered by John’s existence. He didn’t know how to feel about that. They were [Characters]. But seeing Danjo break down in front of him… he shook his head. There was no need to worry about all of that. If someone had wanted to stop this, they could’ve. Right.

Just blame the [Author], as always.

“Done?” John said, offering Danjo a box of tissues. Danjo gladly accepted them and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He was a mess, but he nodded.

“Come on, then. Let’s go see your sister.”

“O-Olivia?”

“What? Is she not accepting visitors?”

“No, but…”

“Danjo. We’re your friends,” Destiny said quietly. “If you don’t want us to see her, that’s ok.”

“No, no! It’s just… why would you waste your time with us?”

Destiny looked at John, who just shook his head. He grabbed Danjo by the back of his shirt and lifted him up.

“Come on, Danjo. Let’s just go see your sister.”

“But-!”

Despite his protests, Danjo led the way to the intensive care section of the hospital where his sister was. Despite the layout of the building being similar to Earth hospitals, the setting was very different. Wooden walls, plank floors, and no equipment. Instead of cold LEDs, there were warm magical lamps. Instead of the smell of drugs and cleaning agents, there was the smell of herbs and flowers. So similar, yet so different.

“Ah, Danjo! Oh, I see you’ve brought…” Olivia’s eyes widened as she saw the group pile into the room.

“Ah, hello. I would get up to greet you, but the doctors insisted that I stay in bed.”

“I understand. We had to spend a week to rest in our room as well,” Destiny said with a smile.

“Hey,” John said causally. “How you doin’?”

“You… you’re that boy that was in the room with me.”

“I’m, like, nineteen or something. Are you even older than me?”

“You don’t look a year over seventeen,” Olivia said. “Really?”

“How old are you?”

“Older than you,” Olivia said with a smile. “Is that enough of an answer?”

“Old fart,” John grumbled. He shook his head. “It’s good to see you alive.”

Danjo and Destiny turned to John with a quizzical look on their faces.

“What? It’s better than seeing you dead. Especially after what you went through down there.”

“That was… an unpleasant memory,” Olivia said, her smile fading. “But I understand what you mean. And I must thank you. All of you. I recognize you. You are… Danjo’s friends, correct?”

Prota nodded.

“Ah, then let me guess… you must be Prota. Then you are Fate?”

Destiny coughed awkwardly. “Actually, my name is Destiny. Destiny Windwalker.”

“Windwalker!” Olivia exclaimed. “As in-”

“Shh. I’d rather keep it lowkey. Sorry, Danjo.”

Danjo looked just as confused as John, giving the latter some relief.

“So your name is… Destiny?”

“I had to hide my name while I was here,” Destiny explained. “I’m sorry for keeping it from you for so long.”

“Well… if you had a reason…” Danjo shook his head. “You saved me, Fa- Destiny. It’s- it’s fine.”

The atmosphere in the room warmed up as Destiny shared stories of training with Danjo, while Olivia, to Danjo’s embarrassment, shared stories of the dwarf’s childhood. John laughed as Danjo’s face turned red, while Prota, uninterested, fell asleep.

An hour passed by, then two, and the group warmed up. John pulled out sandwiches superior to the hospital food they served, much to Olivia’s delight. She seemed very kind and warmhearted, unlike the way she’d been in Doctor’s hands, but that was to be expected. Anyone would’ve turned sour in her situation.

“Destiny,” Olivia said after a while. “I’m assuming you were sent by the Elvish kingdom to investigate the situation here?”

“...that’s right,” Destiny frowned. “Hey. How… how’d you know that?”

He didn’t want to deal with two people guessing everything about him, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

“I’m an elf, too,” Olivia laughed. “I know of the royal family.”

“You- you’re royalty?” Danjo gasped, jaw dropped as he turned to Destiny.

“No, no.”

Olivia smiled as she put her hand on Danjo’s shoulder.

“Danjo. The Windwalkers are the royal family’s personal bodyguards. Their family has raised exceptional warriors and casters over the history of the Elvish kingdom. Although, I’m surprised they sent someone of your age. Even for an elf, you must be quite young.”

“I… had a personal stake in this case,” Destiny said. “And I’m half human.”

“Half- I see,” Olivia said, nodding her head. “Then you must be returning?”

“In about a month, yes,” Destiny said. “I have to send word that we’re done, and then they’ll send some people to investigate, and then I’ll go home.”

Olivia nodded. “And your plans after that?”

“Well… I was planning on going to Scholaris and train there for a few years,” Destiny said. “After that… I’m not sure.”

Olivia looked at Danjo, and John immediately knew what was coming next. It’d been so long since he’d been fighting something completely unordinary that he’d forgotten he was in a stereotypical fantasy world. After some thought, though, the disgust faded away.

He’d predicted that Olivia’s death would be the factor that would drive Danjo into joining Destiny. But Olivia was alive, and pushing Danjo to go with Destiny. The outcome was the same. No, the outcome was better. Danjo wouldn’t be driven by some kind of twisted desire. It would be purely out of self will.

The results would be the same, but the side effects would be better. Danjo would be happy. And Olivia’s death didn’t make the story any worse. At least, that’s what John thought. It was still interesting. There was still things at stake.

“...maybe it is possible,” John muttered. Prota’s eyes opened and looked at John, who just responded with a nod. He turned his attention back to the conversation, which had conveniently yet to progress.

“Will you take Danjo with you?” Olivia said. “To Scholaris, that is.”

“Sis!” Danjo exclaimed. “But… what about you? You’re too old to go to-”

“Danjo,” Olivia said, turning to her younger brother. “It’s ok. I’ll be here for you. It’s not like I’m leaving you or anything. Scholaris gives their students multiple breaks. This is still home. Besides, didn’t you say you’d become the best artificer in the world?”

Danjo’s face turned red with embarrassment. “I- but-”

“You’ve made wonderful friends, Danjo,” Olivia said kindly. “You can’t just stay with me forever. What is it you want?”

“I…”

“You could just come with us,” John said, a bored look on his face. “You know?”

“...what?”

“Scholaris is, as far as I’m concerned, in the middle of nowhere. Right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes, it’s on a self sustaining island. Access is only granted through portals which open regularly.”

“Look. You need a portal to get there. Which means the closest you can live to Scholaris is a portal. Right?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“And I’d assume the royal family has their own portal to said Scholaris?”

John turned to Destiny.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Then badabing, badaboom, problem solved!” John said, clapping his hands. “I hate to interrupt such an emotional moment, but really, we have a solution here. Danjo. Do you just stay inside at home all the time? Come on, surely you’ve gone out once in a while. This isn’t all that different.”

“Well…”

John pressed his lips together into a grimace. “Ok. That’s a problem on its own. Come on. I mean, if you wanna stay home… well, maybe I’m not one to talk. But still.”

Danjo looked down nervously.

“...John?” Destiny said. “You haven’t really presented the solution.”

“What? Come on, isn’t it obvious?”

John just sighed. Was his suggestion really that strange?

“You two move into the elven country.”

“...what?”

“Come on! From what I know, people who can use real healing magic are rare. With that, there’s surely a sponsorship somewhere in the works. Destiny. You can advocate, right? Is there nothing you can do?”

“I mean…”

“Just send it in that message of yours. Come on. Really? Is it that hard?”

“Seriously, you think you know everything…” Destiny muttered.

He didn’t say no, though. That was all that mattered.

“Anyways, you’ve got a while to think about it, Danjo. Well, if you don’t wanna come, don’t. But it’s not like we can’t do anything, right?”

John got up, shaking Prota a little to wake her up. She blinked slowly and got up from the ground, following John.

“If you guys ever wanna visit, come to this inn and ask for me. I’ll treat you guys to a meal or something.”

John got up to leave, but stopped as Olivia called out his name.

“...what’s up?”

“I’d just like to say… thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?” John frowned, turning around.

“What you said to me down there. I… well, I didn’t die. But it made a difference. And I understand now. My life is important. If I were to die… well, all I can say is I understand now. The importance of life.”

“The importance of life…” a curious smile formed on John’s lips. “Yeah. It is a pretty important thing, isn’t it?”

Danjo and Destiny looked back and forth, confused, but Olivia just smiled at John, waving as he left the room, Prota in tow.

“What an interesting boy,” Olivia giggled. “Although, I guess I can’t call him a boy anymore.”

“Hey, um… miss Olivia?”

“Just Olivia is fine. I’ll feel old if you say something like that.”

“This is a sore topic, but… just what exactly happened with John down there?”

Olivia’s smile faded as she grew sober.

“John… he was quite interesting. Despite being manaless, he was very confident. He never acted like he was in any trouble.”

“Did he ever try to get out?”

“No, never,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “It wouldn’t have been hard for him to escape if he did have mana. He was bound with basic rope. There was no mana dampener around his neck. And yet… he remained so defiant, right until the end. There wasn’t any signs of fear. Signs of panic, or desperation. I’m not quite sure how he did it.”

Destiny ran a hand through his hair, deep in thought.

“Did he do anything strange? Anything out of the ordinary?”

“Do you suspect him of something?” Olivia frowned. “He didn’t strike me as someone who might be a threat.”

“No, no. I trust him. But… don’t you find it strange? That a manaless person could dive into danger like that, so confidant, and still somehow maintain the upper hand?”

“I suppose…”

She, too, went deep in thought, until suddenly, her eyes lit up.

“Oh. There was something.”

“What?” Destiny said, leaning forward.

“When he fell asleep, he’d mutter strange things. Something about… not wanting them to come. I think he didn’t want you to rescue him.”

“...really?”

“It didn’t seem like self sacrifice, though. He said something about… it not mattering. Something along the lines of “it doesn’t matter.” But he never tried to do anything about it, not until you all showed up. Perhaps he was dreaming of a world where he could solve everything on his own. Sometimes delusion can do such a thing to people. Or perhaps he really did have something up his sleeve.”

Destiny frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. If he could escape, and if he didn’t want us to come, then why was he still tied up? Why was he still captured?”

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know. Again, perhaps he was delusional. The things we went through in that place…”

She clenched her teeth as she glanced at Danjo.

“No, never mind. I hope I answered your question well,” Olivia said.

Destiny nodded. “Yes. Thank you for that. There’s actually one more thing I’d like to talk to you about.” He coughed awkwardly, glancing at Danjo. “Uh… do you mind stepping out for a moment?”

“Wh- what? Why?”

“Just… please.”

Danjo didn’t know what Destiny wanted, but it couldn’t have been bad. He wasn’t sure why he needed to leave the room, but if Destiny was affiliated with royalty, and his sister knew about all of that, maybe it was something he couldn’t hear about. He hesitantly left the room, but only after Olivia assured him that it would be alright.

“You really love him, don’t you?” Destiny said as he watched the dwarf leave the room.

“He’s a very kind boy,” Olivia said with a sigh. “I just wish he’d get out more.”

“Well… never mind. That’s not what I wanted to talk with you about.”

Destiny leaned forward, staring into Olivia’s eyes.

“You. You’re a part of the Shadow Order, aren’t you?”