Chương 62: Epilogue

TIME REMAINING [05: 00: 00] Grim woke up screaming before she reined it in. Something was wrong.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud. She was sitting in a chair, the fabric hard and unyielding. There was no sound with the only illumination coming from an old terminal. One that had only gotten oh so more familiar to her. Dark blue light coated her, as if she were a corpse in a morgue. On the terminal, there was only a timer counting down.

TIME REMAINING [04: 59: 24] She pressed a button on the keyboard, trying to get anything to change, to get any answers, but the only thing she was met with was a small pop-up on the screen saying, "Access Denied."

"Hello!" she yelled into the void, begging anyone to respond, but no one did. She had both her arms again, but they flickered like TV static as she looked at them. Her whole body had the consistency of shadow but the colour of a dull grey. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was Natalie running forward and… oh. She had died. The feel of this place was different compared to her encounter with Orion, but maybe that was just because she was on the other side of the grass this time.

If she was right, her body was probably going on a rampage right about now. She expanded her strand sight but there was nothing around her, besides one singular thread, tying her to the Terminal. She dug deeper, looking for anything else. It felt like diving into an impossibly large body of water and she almost lost herself in the vastness of it. There almost wasn't enough of her left to put herself back together. She buoyed herself, shrinking down her perception as she held onto that lone thread. There.

A small tug on her soul as one of her Boons was activated. She tried to push further with it, following that feeling back to the source. For just a moment, she felt an echo of her body as something resonated with her soul. For just a moment the lights of the terminal room blared to full power before powering down once more to the dull haze as something clamped down on her end of the soul. Her strand sight was cut off.

No matter how hard she tried again to activate it, but that was okay, it had told her everything it could've. She'd felt [HEALING GLOOM] activate. Orion's body had been puppeted after the Boon had activated, but his soul was still attached. If it wasn't, then the Boon wouldn't have activated at all. Maybe if she'd been recovered enough, she could've saved him. If she could activate her Authority, maybe she'd be able to save herself. It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing.

There was still a lot of work to do in the real world. She glanced at the time again and saw that around a minute had passed, so she'd have to act quick. She first focused on going through all the basics, just to make sure she didn't miss anything before she resorted to something she didn't have to. It confirmed mostly what she'd already suspected, none of her Boons were available to her, and of what little aura was flowing to her, it was entirely spent on keeping the remnants of her soul alive.

[CEDE] [ACCESS DENIED] [FRIENDLY SHADOW] [ACCESS DENIED] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. This was her soul. Her body, damnit. The system was going to listen to her whether it wanted to or not.

"I am the one who will not let go!" She shouted, but nothing happened, no spark of energy or the feeling of her domain came to her. It was there, she could tell, and just the fact she could feel it confirmed to her it was more a power on a soul level than something the system had provided. Which was weird. Didn't everyone's power come through the system? It didn't matter, she'd have to think about it later. All she could know for sure right now was that the system was piloting her body right now.

It had to have been. She wasn't sure how strong the Boon made her after death, but if she was going off of Orion, she didn't think it would stop until the timer ran out or she was completely destroyed. So great, two timers she had to contend with.

"System! What's my profile?" Error. You have no profile.

"Bullshit. I'm not dead yet, I've got five more minutes." TIME REMAINING [03: 47: 24] Error. You have no profile.

"Damnit," she muttered. There really wasn't an option, was there?

"Seir! I'm ready to talk." Barely a moment passed before she saw the familiar swish of a summer dress belonging to an immaculately dressed woman. She'd hardly changed from the last time she'd seen her.

"—I was beginning to wonder when you'd call me," The White Snake looked all around, appraising her environment with utmost detail, with only a small scowl on her face.

"Although we will have to have a chat on proper etiquette. This is no place to host a guest."

"Yeah, next time I won't forget the wine," Grim rolled her eyes.

"I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I didn't exactly choose this place. Currently on a bit of a time limit before I die for real." Seir laughed, "Child, you are dead for real. Your soul just hasn't moved on yet. As for what you want me to do about that, I haven't the slightest idea. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way. If I wanted to make bargains with dead things, I wouldn't have left my home." She tutted and turned away, in the midst of stepping out of the realm, Grim grabbed her forearm.

"Wait! You wanted to make a deal, right? Well, let's make one." The white snake turned, gently grabbed Grim's hand and extracted it from her forearm.

"What use is there in making a deal with you? You'll be gone quite shortly."

"Not if you help me, and you said it yourself, you need someone. No one has an ability like mine, I can help you," Grim said. One of her four arms went to her chin, "Hmm, you do have a point there. Plenty would bargain with me, but none bring anything close to the table you do. Fine, we can bargain. I assume you want to be let out of this purgatory before your time runs out?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

"I'm afraid that's out of my control here, the system has its hooks quite deep in you. I have no intention of getting into a slugging match with that brute," Seir said. Grim cursed, of course it couldn't be that easy.

"To be honest, I was really hoping you wouldn't say that."

"No ideas then? Maybe that shadow of yours has something to say?"

"She's… gone, and I'm not sure where." Seir stared through Grim for a moment, looking at something only she could before thrusting her hand into her body. It didn't hurt as she didn't have a physical body any more but the sensation was very unpleasant. With something akin to a pop, Seir ripped out a chunk of shadow that she held in her claws.

"It seems that Demon inside you grabbed more than you were aware of. No matter, in exchange for the assistance I've granted you, you will complete a task for me in the near future. Assuming you survive." She felt herself swell with power for an instant before it was diverted as the Boon placed on her roared with indignance. It hid away just as fast as it came.

"Is that her?" Grim asked, she didn't have time to hesitate.

"Deal. I'll do anything." Seir smiled, showing every inch of teeth she had, "Then we've come to an agreement. Farewell, Emily." The White Snake dropped the mass of shadows on the ground and then left in the same way she'd come in. A surge of memories hit Grim, memories of Hazel being taken by the demon after she'd been forcibly dematerialized. While it had sealed her, it had also sealed all the memories of that event happening, and since it had been all internal, no one but her knew what had happened.

She looked down at the mass of shadow, slowly forming itself into a person, as if someone was waking up from a long nap, "Hazel?" She asked. The shadow turned its attention on her, and she saw the sedate pace it had been forming back together hasten as it lunged at her, fully forming as her hands wrapped around Grim, squeezing her into a hug.

"I'm so, so, sorry," Hazel said, her voice half formed Grim's hands laid down at her side for only a moment before she returned it twice as hard, as if she was trying to push months of connection into just a few seconds, "It's okay. You're here now." Hazel seemed to reluctantly open her eyes and get just enough space between them to look around.

"Where… where are we?" It was Grim's turn to look at the ground.

"Don't be mad." She glanced just enough to see Hazel's eyebrows scrunch in confusion, "Why would I be mad? I should be the one apologizing, I'm the one who messed everything up."

"Well… I died."

"YOU WHAT?"