System Lost: My Own Best Friend

What does it say about me that having my life directly threatened by a seven foot tall goat man who could draw his sword and lop off my head faster than I can blink doesn't faze me? I know he means it, but I also know he doesn't want to do it. Draga is intimidating, but he's a good person. I can't find it in myself to be afraid of him.

"Talla," I sigh, petting Nipper idly. "You can just tell him."

She looks at me with a frown. "Are you sure?"

I nod. Draga's got a strict sense of duty, and I'm pretty sure that telling him everything is just going to make him even more resolved to make sure I'm properly delivered to whatever the appropriate authorities are. But lies and secrets are exhausting, and I think he's earned our trust by now, even if he's not necessarily on our side.

Honestly, I don't even know what our side is. It doesn't sound like their society is especially welcoming of outsiders, and the whole "chaos magic" thing doesn't really do us any favors either. At the same time, neither Talla nor Draga seem particularly enthusiastic about persecuting me for either my species or my magic, so either they're uniquely cool about it, or I'm wrong about their culture, or the impressions I've gotten only apply to certain powerful groups rather than society at large.

Either way, I need Draga's trust right now. Whatever our path to survival is in this world, I don't think we can do it alone.

By the time I finish my ruminations, Talla has brought Draga up to speed about my unusual situation.

"So there are three of her in one body?" he asks incredulously. "Is such a thing even possible?"

"I'm not aware of any other examples," Talla says. "But Allie's other selves are visible in her magical signature, and she claims that each of them have their own classes."

"And now there's a fourth?" Draga muses. "Who is somehow a priestess?"

They both look to me for answers and all I can do is shrug. "I don't know either. This is only the first...maybe second time she's appeared, and she doesn't talk to me."

It takes Talla a moment to put all that together, but she's picking up my language insanely fast, and I don't even need to make any clarifications when she translates for me.

Draga shudders. "That sounds horrifying," he mutters. "At any moment your body could get possessed by a chaos witch or a mysterious priestess?"

I shrug. "It doesn't really feel that way, but maybe I'm just used to it. Violet, Maggie, and now this new person have all saved my life."

"Why did you keep it a secret?" he asks.

"I was scared," I explain. "The first people we met tried to kill us, and as nice as you've been, I'm still your prisoner and all you've promised is to deliver me alive to the same people who tried to kill me."

Once Talla finishes translating all of that, Draga purses his lips. "I suppose that's fair. And you, Talla? If you already knew all of this, why stay quiet?"

"For the same reasons, obviously," she answers plainly. "I'm as faithful as the next person, but my faith is in the Goddess, not the church."

"What's the difference?"

"A degree in theology," she replies drily. "The Church of the Great Wheel has an impressive talent for interpreting the Goddess' will in ways that always increase their own power and influence."

"And you were warning me about heresy?"

Talla scratches the base of her horns and shrugs. "You can turn me in if we make it out of here."

"Oh, of course," Draga deadpans. "I'm sure a clanless male making baseless accusations against a lady of Clan Baanu would be taken very seriously."

"Your words, not mine."

I watch the two of them bantering with a bemused expression. Despite the heavy topic and dire circumstances, they seem quite at ease, and their comfort is infectious. Maybe that's on purpose, but if so then I appreciate it.

"Right," Draga sighs. "Well, I have no idea what to do about any of that, but I'll admit that you had a reason to hide it, and I don't think you caused any harm by doing so."

Talla purses her lips and sighs, glancing at me for a moment. "We do need to talk about the chaos magic, though."

I hug my knees tighter to my chest. I'm willing to listen to them, but if there are powerful organizations in the world that might want us dead, we're going to need every advantage. Besides, I don't see Maggie giving it up any time soon.

"It's dangerous," Talla insists. "That explosion was far beyond what any tier 1 class can do, even in the most ideal circumstances. I wasn't lying about the one before—with the flaregaze—but this was different."

Draga shrugs. "I don't see the problem. She did as I asked, nothing more. The explosion was potent, but I knew the risks when I ordered it."

"It's not just about the potency. Chaos magic is...corrupting. It reverses the Goddess's work—directly opposes the [World Engine]. Nobody can withstand the level of strain it causes and stay sane."

She runs a hand through her hair and huffs irritably.

"You don't understand because you haven't seen it," she tries to explain. "All mages know the temptation of chaos magic. Without fail, everyone who wields external magic has seen it. It's impossible to describe—infinite beauty, infinite power, the origin of all things. It's the source of the [World Engine]'s power. The Goddess herself."

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Talla gives me a sympathetic smile.

"It's wonderful, but perceiving it is not a pleasant experience," she says, shuddering. "Even just thinking about it makes me feel small and worthless. Magic brings us closer to the Goddess than normal skills, and her presence can be overwhelming. Chaos magic...it touches her. Tries to seize a portion of her power, beyond that which she grants us with her gift of the [World Engine].

"It's not just heresy, it's madness! Chaos magic is not dangerous for what it does, it's dangerous for what it is! I—I shouldn't tell you this next part. It's privileged information. I'm not even supposed to know it, but I think it's important."

Draga and I wait quietly for Talla to compose herself. She's shaking with fear, as though even saying all of this out loud puts her in danger.

"Most chaos mages fall to their own destruction or church inquisitors, but not all who escape the church's wrath destroy themselves. Those are the truly horrible ones. The ones who start cults that aren't satisfied to just oppose the [World Engine]—they try to change it."

"Hrm, I've heard it said that the alchemist is a chaos mage," Draga comments. "That does sound like something he'd try to do."

Talla rolls her eyes. "The alchemist's reclusive nature and the impact of his advancements make him the source of every rumor there is. If he was half the things I've heard, the church and crown would both raze his entire company to the ground."

"True enough," Draga chuckles.

Okay, I can't take it anymore! I raise my hand. "[Who is the alchemist?]" I ask in their language, very carefully enunciating each word.

Talla blinks in surprise. "Wow! It was a bit stiff, but that was almost spot on!"

I rub my sore throat with a frown. Human vocal cords are really not made for speaking Fa'aun.

"I'm afraid nobody knows," Draga answers. "He keeps himself quite secret. The only thing we do know is that he's a man."

"Even that rumor is disputed," Talla sighs. "But we know a bit more about him than that. He was probably a former ranger or independent delver—that's someone who explores convergence points without a commission—"

"Which is illegal," Draga interjects.

"Yes—well, in Stebaa it is. Anyway, his first contribution was the discovery of mana crystals—stable formations of magical energy similar to your candles. That was about two hundred years ago, and since then most of his innovations have built on that. Alchemical arms, tinctures, even common household lighting uses his inventions."

"Not that common," Draga scoffs.

Huh. Wait— "Two hundred?!" I exclaim.

Talla giggles and nods. "Yes, he's old. Rumor has it that he's got at least a five-star class and must be tier 30 or higher."

"Of course since it's the alchemist, you'll also hear people claim he's ten-star and tier 100," Draga snorts.

Okay, yes, that is old, but not what I'm surprised about.

"Convergence point," I say, pointing down at the ground. "Dungeon. Two hundred years."

I stare into Talla's eyes, urging her to understand what I'm getting at. Thankfully, she's a smart cookie and gets it right away.

"Oh! Two hundred years was also how long it's been since the last recorded delve here," she muses. "That's...quite a coincidence, but the time of the alchemist's rise is only an approximation."

Still! This famous and reclusive figure shows up right around the last time anyone was known to come here, makes his name by inventing technology based on crystals that are suspiciously similar to the magic candles here, and one of those inventions is guns?!

I don't know who this alchemist guy is, but suddenly I really want to meet him. If anyone is going to have answers about how I ended up here and why, I feel like it's going to be him.

Maybe he's like me. Another "dungeon-borne" person snatched up from some other dimension. Possibly even the same dimension!

The more I consider it, the more convinced I am. I have to find this person.

Later, though. Getting back out of this stupid evil cave comes first.

"Okay," Draga says with a heavy sigh. "Talla, I think you've made your point about chaos magic, and we've gotten off track. I'm making two executive decisions. First—the delve is off. We've taken critical losses and can't continue. The demon is dead, and that will have to be enough."

He scrubs at his face, trying and not quite succeeding to hide his distress. He doesn't relish the thought of returning empty handed from a failed mission.

"Second—I'm relaxing [Message] protocols. Communication with Allie is too important right now. From now on, we're to consider her a full ranger and a member of the team. Since you don't know what that means, Allie—you can use small messages to communicate quickly if needed. Don't do it in combat unless it's an emergency. It also means that Talla has permission to use messages as needed to teach you—which I suspect she's already been doing."

She crosses her arms and huffs. "Only to communicate class info! Mostly. I'm not completely green!"

I stay quiet, but privately wonder if it's really her old boss that's been holding her back, or if her unprofessional attitude is to blame. If I'm being fair, it's probably a bit of both.

"I'm sure," Draga replies coolly. "We can discuss your conduct on this mission after we survive it. Allie—are you ready to move on? Now that the tunnels have partially collapsed, we're going to be relying on you to navigate for us."

That's a good question.

"Vi? Maggie?" I call quietly. "Are you there?"

No response. I'm starting to get worried. They don't usually stay quiet for this long. It's not like I can just wait for them, though, and they always show up when I really need them.

"I guess," I say with a shrug. "Where do you want to go?"

"Out," he replies once Talla translates for him. "I don't look forward to butting heads with the church over payment, but at least nobody can accuse us of dereliction at this point. It's time to put this place behind us and never look back."

That's practically music to my ears. I stand up and try in vain to brush off some of the rock dust coating me from head to toe. At least I don't have fur to worry about.

"Alright then," I declare. "Follow me."