Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

Chloe, Kristil, and Cara all awaken from their ethereal, dream-like states, rousing themselves from their stupor with a chorus of groans and the sounds of cracking joints. It's only been a few minutes, and yet, all three of them are going about as though they'd just awoken from a long, deep slumber. Is… Is that what happened? Their minds were in such a deep state of meditation that…

No, not meditation. My trial was in the physical realm, but theirs was a battle within their own minds. A battle of willpower. This is tiredness and fatigue, yes, but one begat of the mind, not of the body.

"How are you?" I ask Chloe, moving over to her and embracing her wobbly form within me. I hope the others don't begrudge me for this, although maybe I deserve that much. Still, Chloe is still my highest priority, and if that makes me selfish, then I shall embrace it as tightly as I embrace my beloved.

"You know how sometimes you pass out and you take a power nap, and then you wake up at the wrong time and you find yourself even more tired than when you started? It feels a lot like that."

"Sorry," I say.

"Don't be. This was all according to Cara's plan. Though I'm… still a little surprised that it all worked out the way she'd planned."

"Well, excuse me, princesses," the devil herself says. "Of course my plan worked. It was predicated based on months of careful intelligence gathering, a robust analysis of the various Skills and other abilities each of you could bring to the table, and all of us putting forth our best efforts in bringing the plan to fruition."

"Yes, but planning only gets you so far," Kristil retorts. "We have a saying: Every plan goes to shit upon first contact with the enemy."

"And it did," Cara replies. "But we had intelligence about what they were likeliest to do, and we were able to adapt to the holes and foreseeable breaks in that information. Though, I have to admit, I didn't expect the former Lord Mayor to be such a powerful sorcerer. He was always holed up, surrounded by guards on the rare occasions he did make a public appearance. I– I should have seen the deception better. Been better prepared. Not gotten my operatives captured, or forced into a position where they confessed. Probably under torture." Cara sulks for a few seconds, and frankly, imagining everything she and her agents have gone through dealing with this… everything, I can't blame her.

"So where is the Lord, anyway?" Kristil asks. "The real Lord, not these illusions and mental projections we've been fighting."

"I have to ask as well," I say. "The Crystal's light is vastly faded and the thrumming has gone silent. But there's been no System notification or award of Experience. That means the man is still alive, somewhere."

"I wouldn't expect too much," Cara says. "He might be alive by a technical measure, but his mind was probably completely shattered by the backlash from our battle on the mindplane. If he's lucky, he'll be mad. If not, he'll be completely comatose, with no will of his own remaining."

"So, what do we do then?" Chloe asks.

"Part of me wants to put the damned asshole out of our misery for good. But the other part thinks that if death was too good for his victims, it's too good for him as well."

"If he is still bodily alive," Cara says, "then I'll have to secure him and return him to the capital of Molihora for detainment and trial… even if it's a trial he's not mentally competent to properly stand for. If not, well, we'll get the System notification sooner or later."

"And the captives?" I ask.

"All we can do is reserve judgement until we've seen their condition," Cara says. "Chloe, Seraphina has insinuated that your healing magic has a moderately potent calming and soothing sensation on the mind as well as the body. Is that correct?"

"I've… I've not experienced such a sensation when I've used it upon myself, but I can say that Sera isn't the only one who's said as much."

"Good. There is a chance then, that you can bring them back from the brink of madness. Maybe even beyond the brink. But we should hurry; if their condition is as dire as you've suggested, we shouldn't make them wait. The formation controlling and running the Crystal has dispersed without a will to guide and empower it, but we mustn't dally any longer; doing so will only prolong everyone's suffering that much more."

Chloe takes the lead. There's only a single passageway leading out of the core chamber, an almost-imperceptible lightly-golden pathway standing out in the sea of muted color. I retract my earlier statement about the thrum having gone completely silent. It is faint, low-pitched, almost imperceptible on both accounts. It's as though the main power source has been shuttered completely, while a tiny amount of backup power is trying to prolong the functioning of one or two critical tasks.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Two in particular. Leading us onward and then getting us out.

We find ourselves going down a passageway narrow enough that we're forced to move single file, eventually arriving at a diaphanous door. It opens from the center outward, leaving a human-sized gap for us to progress through.

Inside are four people, each seated in some sort of vat of strange goo that goes up to their chest. One man, three women. Based on their clothes, they're all commoners. Based on the length of their hair and nails— including those of the man— they've been in here for several weeks, if not multiple months. Shards of crystal are scattered all about, including a large, forearm-sized piece attached to the back of one of the women's necks.

It's almost like they… Yeah, from the pieces of crystal hanging from the walls and through the ceiling, it looks like all four of them have been forcibly hooked up to the crystal through some sort of device that connected directly into their bodies.

"That man," Cara says. "Joshua."

I look at the man, probably about thirty years of age, and even before Chloe goes to check up on him, I can tell by the lack of [Ether] within him and the lack of a heartbeat or breath. He's passed on.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Cara," I say.

She sighs. "It's… I don't want to say that it's okay or anything, but you're not responsible for his suffering, or his death."

She walks up to the man, gently caressing his cheek in a way that corroborates my earlier assumption that the two were either close friends or lovers in addition to being comrades as part of this Silver Dawn organization that she still refuses to elaborate further upon. After pulling his body out of the pod and letting the foul-smelling fluid drip onto the ground for a few seconds, she takes a deep breath and pulls the entire body into her [Inventory], a shimmering galactic haze left in its wake.

"There… At least now he's at peace, and his body can be taken back to his family for last rites. I– I'll take the others back as well. Hopefully their families can be located as well. I'll… I suppose I'll be stuck here for a few more days trying to unravel everything else that's gone on behind the scenes, at least until His Majesty can be notified and a new interim Lord Mayor can be appointed."

"That's a relief," Chloe says. "I– I have a suspicion we won't be able to stay much longer ourselves."

I nod. Even though it feels real and we maybe did save some lives, in the end, this is all just a simulation within the Tower Gauntlet. We'll be whisked away once we've made it to whatever ending the System has in mind for us, by threat of the Warden if nothing else.

"Chloe, Sera, Kristil," Cara starts. "I believe we'll find what's left of our friend, the Lord Mayor, just beyond this door. Before we head in there, I need your assurance that you are all prepared for whatever might await, whether that be a dead body or a mad vestige of the Lord Mayor's lingering will. If that is the case, it may try to possess you."

"I will go alone, then," I say. "That should minimize the risk. Besides, you three have had enough mental battles."

Before I can head into the final chamber, we all four freeze at the sound of a woman groaning. It takes a moment to recenter myself. Cara turns pale, as though she'd just seen a ghost. Only Chloe seems not to be taken wholly aback by the situation, as one of the three women begins to move.

"Ugh… Uh…" She groans and tries to move, only to start coughing several times in rapid succession.

Chloe rushes up and starts healing her with her magic. Even if it is a trap— something I think horrendously unlikely given the circumstances— I know Chloe would rather heal someone and risk walking into a trap than not heal someone who needs it, even if that comes at personal risk. I– I did screw that up one time. I don't want to do so again.

I'll do what I can to keep her as safe as possible.

Golden light fills the small chamber as Chloe works her magic. Sweat pools on her forehead and her hands are visibly shaking from the [Ether] strain she's likely going through. Though I worry for her safety and send that concern through our bond, I don't dare try to stop her. She needs this. Her class expects this from her, and even without that subtle shift on her psyche, I think she still psychologically needs to have some proof that our actions did, in fact, save one life.

Gradually, after a couple of minutes, and just before her Ether completely fails, the woman in the pod starts to come to. Her eyes open, revealing orbs of rich silver, which complement her light brown hair and fair, freckled complexion.

She rouses slowly. Chloe tries to help pull her out, only to lose her footing and nearly faint from exhaustion, mental as much as physical. She falls backward, into my arms, and I steady her into her embrace, feeling the warmth of her breath against my neck and upper chest.

Instead, it's Kristil who takes the initiative, helping her out of the pod while Cara grabs the other two bodies— both deceased, unfortunately— and stows them away in her [Inventory] along with that of her former friend.

"Where… am I?" she asks in a surprisingly smooth voice. One which I recognize as the voice that called out to Chloe and me through our [Angelic Bond] an hour or so ago.

"You're within the Crystal Monolith," Kristil says. "You've been…"

"So it wasn't just a nightmare. It all happened. It all really happened." She looks down. "Oh, by Zalara, please, have mercy upon me. I'm so, so sorry."

"I'm sorry as well," I say. "Um, do you have a name?"

"Marcelle," she says with some trepidation.

"Seraphina," I respond. "Chloe–" I pat her head– "is the one who healed you, though it took most of her strength to do so. And that's Kristil and Cara," I add.

Kristil nods. Cara finishes her somewhat gruesome work, while Marcelle turns away from even looking at the room where her body has sat, dormant, for I don't even want to know how long. Credit to her mental fortitude, coupled with her physical stats, but other than a bit of wobbling as she adjusts to being able to move again under her own power, she seems to be able to walk okay, and she seems sane and capable of returning to society without too much difficulty. Chloe's still going to want to keep an eye on her for a bit longer, to make sure she stays stable.

Which is just fine, because there's still one more task ahead. Time to make sure that the mastermind behind all this pain and suffering will never be able to harm another person again.