Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Amelie's POV

It was amazing how fast one's perspective could change.

As Amelie sat with her back against the wall, ignoring the sore pain pulsing in her back and up the arm that had caught her fall earlier against Savannah, the last few years flashed into her mind. Important moments sprinkled with random, inane memories but mostly, they all revolved around the day it had all fallen apart.

It didn't happen all at once, of course. She had grown up in that toxic, sterile environment, and it had taken her a long time to realize that the fact that her not being allowed to speak to her sister was not normal. That the bare mention of her sibling's name at dinner-time resulting in a week of cold and harsh punishment was not normal, and like that idiom about boiling frogs, it took her a while to realize what was going on around her.

It had taken her until sixteen to snap. And seventeen to break free of their influence.

Before that, Amelie had been the pride of her overachieving parents. They had her schedule filled with manicured activities, from music practice to swimming lessons to socializing events and best of all, she was already passing the mock entry exams to the private med school they'd selected for her.

She was a model daughter. Overachieving, just as they claimed they were. They said she was smart. Popular. Athletic. Pretty. She never back-talked or said anything out of line, unlike Audrey who's name was barely ever mentioned in family dinners or around guests.

A perfect daughter, that's what they'd called her, and when she'd been young and naive enough to miss what wasn't be said, she'd smile and bask in their approval, and deep down, the weight of their expectations would gain an extra couple of pounds. The fear of being on the receiving end of their harsh criticism and cold, disappointing gaze would claw at her throat and chest every night, filling her ever-worsening slumber with nightmares and anxieties.

As she smelled the earthy sent around her, she could feel her stomach start to roil in anger at herself. She couldn't even recognize who she had been. Had they been medicating her without her noticing? Had it been the constant barrage of stress and activities that never allowed her a second to step back and realize the tailor-made mold she'd encased in?

No… I was just told lies, and I didn't want to end up sent away like Audrey. When that would have been the best for me.

Whatever the cause of her willing blindness had been, one day, something gave.

She couldn't really pin-point what had pushed her over the edge. Maybe they missed a dose, or maybe one random comment at breakfast had managed to get under her skin. But all what she could remember of that day was the cold, wet tiling of the swimming pool's hallways, and her own voice echoing as she sat sobbing, clawing at her throat for breath.

That day, she realized what might have had happened with Audrey. That day, hazy and half-memories of her sister shouting and being shouted back surged out of where they had been repressed. The dinners where Castren and Éloïse would praise Amelie, while with that same breath they'd berate Audrey until she would get up and leave, at which point they'd blow up on her.

It all clicked.

That day, after the panic attack had passed and after she'd managed to collect herself, Amelie had spent the night staring at the ceiling of her room. She'd keep the facade for a bit. But as she tried to untangle the mess in her own mind, she realized she had no idea of who she was or who she wanted to be. But she very much knew what she didn't want and over the next few days, she reconnected with her sister. They talked. More than they ever had through the occasional texts and checkups. They really talked. About their parents, about why Audrey had left, and about what Amelie could do. Because she wanted to get away.

She would never allow herself to be shoved back into the mold. She had to get away because back then, she wasn't as confident in her ability to stand up for herself. She wasn't as confident as she was today. So a few weeks later, she emptied out her savings and before her parents could ask her about it, Amelie pulled the trigger and hopped on a plane, went to see her sister, and has not gone back to the west coast since.

Of course, her parents had flipped out. At first, they were shocked, but that quickly turned to concern, then anger and resentment, followed by threats. It had been a mess, especially because she wasn't eighteen just yet, but she managed to retain her independence. Apparently, her sister had dealt with the same crap from them, so Audrey's support had helped her weather the storm.

If an inheritance was the cost of her being a puppet for her parents, then she would pass. Thankfully, with her high grades, Amelie still managed to get into med school. She still liked medecine. She still wanted to help and heal people. But even though she had loved it initially, she couldn't help the niggling feeling that she was still walking the path they'd paved for her. As much as she enjoyed learning and challenging herself, something… wasn't clicking and with every semester, it was getting harder to commit to the workload and so, she had decided to take a semester off to decide.

A month into her break, the system messages had begun, and the world had been irrevocably changed.

On that fateful Thursday evening, Amelie had been in the gym with Audrey. Both of them had quickly gotten into the portal and secured themselves the early bird bonus and shortly after, Amelie had been offered a healing spell, which she had been happy to take.

Stolen story; please report.

It had been perfect. She might not become a doctor, but she could be a healer. And unlike the videogames she'd been enjoying over the last few months, she didn't want to be damsel or just a support. This time, she knew what she wanted to do.

Amelie wanted to fight her own battles. She wanted to carry her own weight in this dangerous new world, filled with monsters and monstrous humans alike, and with her newly acquired healing spell, she wanted to become some sort of fighting healer, someone that, if you'd cut off their arm, they'd grow another and smack you with their severed limb.

She had come to that realization within the first 24 hours, and that realization had made the air shudder around her. At first, she thought she'd been imagining it, but after meeting Ethan and after learning of what he'd figured out, she knew she was on to something.

It made the Body Reforging process easy to trigger and as the expected, Amelie found her consciousness pulled away from the tunnel in which she'd been. She lost the feeling of bold stone against her back as he vision went dark.

Then she opened her eyes.

Rolling hills of swaying wheat stretched all around her like a sea of gold, and in the distance, she saw walls. Towers.

A city of brick-red stone with white and black spires.

Below her, a woman was tying up her hair. She wasn't tall. She might even be around Amelie's size—which was to say, a bit short—and she wore a blue, glowing suit of armour that seemed to be literally made out of flowing water. Along with the rippling magic, blood was being flung aside, sliding up from the chest piece and out of the flaring shoulder-guards.

Amelie couldn't see the source, but she found that she could move in this odd vision, so she floated in front of the sapphire blue-eyed woman and recoiled.

The armoured woman's left eye was missing, as well as a good chunk of her socket and cheek. But seeing her demeanour, it was as if she'd been barely scratched, and as Amelie watched, the remaining eye flashed with a soothing blue glow, and the wound began closing up. The flesh reknit. The bone mended and not even five seconds later, the terrifying wound was completely and fully healed.

In front of her, three masked figures wearing red flowing robes stood about in a semi-circle, robes rippling ominously along with the stalks

The stranger cracked her neck and grinned. "So. Before we get into this, do you boys mind telling me who ordered this? Was it Magnus? Was it the assassin's guild and if so, mind specifying which world and or faction ordered this little action? Or is this about the rift core I borrowed from Red Barry?"

The right most figure stepped forward. The person wore a white mask with a boldly painted snarl that leering at her. "That was a warning shot, Tempest. The Red Baron wants his property back. If you comply, we have orders to let you go. Otherwise, your corpse would do."

The woman gave that a hearty laugh. "Barry hired you to come after me? For a measly little rift core? And please, call me Maleera. No need to get all formal with me. We're waaay past that," she added, wiping at the blood still stuck to her cheek.

With a flick of her left wrist, a ball of glowing purple and blue appeared in her palm, and Amelie's eyes widened. Even though this was supposed to be a vision, she could sense the power radiating out of the snow-globe-sized item, pushing against her chest and spirit.

The three shadowy figures tensed, and in turn the woman just rolled the ball on and around her hand before she made it disappear once more. "I guess I should have stopped at his treasuries first. If he's getting mad about a tiny little rift core, maybe I should have picked him clean and set myself up for winter."

Two of the figures surged, one wearing thick, red-glowing gloves while the second–the one who had spoken–had a purple short-sword. Right as they moved, their third swung upward with a hand. In his grip was a curved, crystalline brown wand and following his movement, a pillar of brown, jagged stone shot up from under the woman, ready to impale her.

But she'd already moved.

Maleera lunged at the gloved assailant, a maniacal grin on her face. She swung a fist, and the masked figure guarded. But it was as if they'd tried to stop a tsunami with a rotted wooden palisade.

The gloved figure tore through the air, as if catapulted, and was sent hurtling across the ground, skidding like a ricocheted stone and sending stalks of pulverized grass flying away with the wind.

Amelie watched, captivated. This was it. This was what she wanted to be like. She was thankful for Audrey's shields and protection, but she needed to be able to take such hits and keep hitting back.

The second figure suddenly appeared behind the woman, and Amelie almost shouted, but it was too late. As soon as he'd appeared, the masked man stabbed forward and straight through Maleera's heart.

Amelie expected to see the woman flinch or stumble. She expected to see her breath catch and potentially cough up blood if her airways got hit. Instead, the blue-armored woman swung back with an elbow and clocked her attacker right in the temple, and without bothering to remove the sword, she surged toward the spellcaster.

Over the next minute, the woman proceeded to dismantle the trio. She got stabbed, sliced, crushed, electrocuted, then burned, and she still kept going after them, although by the end of it, she was cursing and cussing more than just laughing.

Her ability to heal was unbelievable. At one point, a chunk of her head had been blown off, but it was as if her body didn't even need her organs to function. No stabbed heart or damaged brain were enough to slow her down.

Amelie could have watched the scene play out for hours, unfortunately, the vision began to fade. The sounds and sights of the battle faded to black, and the blue lights of the glowing mushrooms crept back into her sight.

Prime Arcanum of the Battle Engine - Activation in progress

She stared at her interface, trying to recall what she had seen in her vision. The memory was already growing hazy, losing its clarity as the seconds went by and as she tried to hold on to it, a new earth-shaking roar filled the cave.