Chương 94: A place that doesn’t exist is good for hiding

Was Lily brave because she wasn't running away from El'el, or was El'el brave because she wasn't running away from Lily? Looking at them, Dennis couldn't help but think of two cats meeting in the wild, simultaneously wary and curious as they circled each other. Unlike cats, there was no actual circling or hissing involved, thankfully. It was just the vibes. The vibes were the same. Lily and El'el approached each other slowly, every step laden with worry and hesitation.

Despite his reassurances, Lily was still preparing herself to be scolded or something–a fate she considered to be more or less as bad as being murdered, for some crazy reason–and El'el, despite her own words, still seemed pretty scared of the girl. It was a bit annoying that he couldn't peer into the elf's mind the same way he understood the girl, but even without the cheats it was obvious that El'el didn't feel exactly safe. Yet, even if it was slow, and reluctant, they still approached each other.

Despite how scared Lily was, she still stepped forward. Despite how worried El'el was, she reciprocated, putting her trust in the girl. Considering the nature of Lily's fuckup, wasn't that crazy? What Dennis was seeing was bravery. On both of their parts. It made him feel weird. He wasn't used to just… studying what other people did. Even more than that, feeling like he actually understood what was happening, not in an abstract, clinical way, but somehow deeper.

The girls in front of him were overcoming their own fears, one small step at a time, and instead of just noting the fact he was… rooting for them? Empathizing?

"H-hey," Lily said quietly when their slow march toward each other was finally done.

"I'm sorry–""I am sorry," El'el said at the same time, not much louder than the girl. They both grew quiet, unsure at how to proceed. Dennis was feeling like he was intruding, like the fact that he was not that far away and could see and hear them was somehow a crime, and yet he couldn't turn away. A new feeling inside of him made him unable to do so. Was this the same feeling that forced people to put their noses into other's business? No, that felt wrong.

"W-what? You don't have to be sorry about anything," Lily mumbled.

"I m-made you–""It was my mistake that forced your hand," El'el shook her head forcefully.

"I cannot blame you for the consequences of my incompetence. Not when all you tried to do was to right a wrong. Your intentions were noble."

"T-they really weren't–""Did you not act the way you did only to save one dear to you?" El'el asked.

"And all those people, wronged by my master, destined for little more than slaughter for his unjust cause?" Dennis didn't know why it was so hard for him to hear those words. They weren't directed at him, but still felt too personal. Touched something raw in him that he was too afraid to touch.

"Did you– Did you know why he did that?"

"No," El'el shook her head, sorrowful.

"But it was my responsibility to stop him. I do not blame you. I cannot, and will not. Any slight you think you've committed, I forgive. This, I promised, and my promise holds."

"I just– I didn't do it for them," Lily muttered.

"I just wanted to save Dennis. The others… It wasn't hard to ask you to save them, and it felt like the right thing to do at the moment. I just– I forced you to break the Law because it was convenient, it's not like I really cared, and it's so important to you and I– you should be mad–""Lily," El'el said quietly, crouching slightly to be on the same height as the girl and wiping away her tears.

"It is okay. Just… next time, you can simply ask. I will listen. This, I also promise." Lily hugged the elf, crying. El'el just stood there, stroking her head, gently whispering something to the girl that he couldn't hear. The girl's aura almost disappeared again, becoming barely a whisper in his senses, replaced by the sound of her outburst. He turned around, unable to look anymore. He hated when children cried. It was a loud and ugly thing. Promised nothing but trouble, and he never knew what to do. Usually.

What he felt right now… he wasn't sure. But it definitely wasn't hate. It was something different. Something new. Proud, maybe? He was proud of them. Among other things that he couldn't name. Some felt nice. Some were very painful. Deciding that there was a limit to how much he was allowed to eavesdrop, he walked towards the pickup truck in the distance. It was there for some time already, visible but not coming closer.

At least dealing with a bunch of pussies who were too afraid to approach 'the evil mind-controller' was something he was more confident in. Just a few threats to get them moving, and their ride to the city would be secured. This, he could do. / - / Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Pickup trucks were good for picking up people. It was even in the name. Lots of space in the back, even if there were no seats. But maybe nine people was a bit too much.

It was definitely too much. And probably illegal. After all, again, there weren't any seats for most of the passengers. Or seatbelts. Or space. At this point they'd need a minibus to ride comfortably. But, apparently, riding anything bus-shaped was a very bad idea. It was too hard to get in or out, and bad visibility could mean the difference between life and death.

The back of the pickup truck, on the other hand, could simply be jumped onto and off of, and one could see and shoot pretty much everything from it, with skills or more conventional weapons. The lack of a roof was a tactical advantage, in that way. And if it was raining? They just didn't drive anywhere if it was raining. Dennis was somewhat impressed with that elegant and simple solution to rain.

He didn't have to do any threatening or bonking to stop the fuckup-rescue-squad from being pussies scared of a little girl. Mary was with them, and she did that all on her own even before he approached. She had strong arguments, and a heavy staff. Truly, she was a master of negotiations, from whom Dennis might want to learn a thing or two later. Her results were impressive.

In short, the rescue squad's truck didn't approach them because Mary spotted them talking things out with Lily, and basically ordered everyone to wait, worried about overwhelming the girl. It helped that, unlike Dennis, she noticed the disappearance of Lily's skill effect basically the moment it happened. Apparently, just one thought about the girl made Mary realize that she clearly, absolutely, very much wasn't sixteen, and then everything else crashed from there.

According to Evan, she was furious at first, but not at the control itself but at the way Lily used it, which was mostly to dodge Mary's attempts to care for her. Saying 'I'm fine' was supposedly Lily's most grievous crime, the one that Mary had seethed at the most. Basically, before Dennis could even talk to them, the rescue squad was already furiously bonked and convinced to treat Lily with utmost care. If they should take Dennis and the girl into the city or not wasn't in question. They would.

Mary was terrifying, when she was angry. It was funny how not a hint of that anger could be seen when she was talking to the girl. The truck traveled somewhat slowly back to the NLA, which stood for–seriously, he was sure they were fucking with him–New Los Angeles. It wasn't so much another city as it was a walled off portion of LA, mostly cleared of monsters and with all dungeons and spawn points accounted for and contained. The ride was cramped as hell.

It helped a little bit that Lily was basically half a person in terms of size, but still, with the only two seats occupied by Mark and one of his subordinates–the angry useless one with a rifle–it was still a logistical challenge to cram seven people in the back of the truck. But the ride itself was pretty calm, on account of monsters outright ignoring them because Dennis was that awesome.

To his deepest regrets, the combination of a slow and calm ride while basically rubbing shoulders with half a dozen people was a recipe for disaster, the one that even his fear aura and Lily's evil mind-controlly nature couldn't stop. It was kinda boring. And people started talking.

"So…" Daniel, the less useless subordinate, muttered, looking at El'el with fascination.

"An elf, huh?" She tilted her head like an owl, watching the man with her face blank.

"Your observation is correct," she said.

"Don't be racist," Dennis warned calmly. The man gulped, raising his hands in surrender nervously, giving them an uneasy smile.

"Peace," he said.

"I'm just curious, that's all. Your language is very beautiful."

"Thank you," she said after a few seconds, looking at the man without blinking.

"Yours is… Um… Not the worst I've heard." Come to think of it, it was always pleasant hearing El'el talk. When she spoke calmly, it was like listening to a lullaby. When she was worried, the sounds itself were like a violin that was off-pitch. Even if he ignored the words, just the sounds she made were carrying the meaning like music. If that was how she sounded while just talking, he wondered just what it would look like if she tried to actually sing.

"Wait, it's not just your voice?" he muttered, glancing at her.

"I thought you were speaking English?"

"I am not," she replied calmly. Now that he tried to listen closely, it was clearly the sound of denial. A defiant note.

"Sick," he said.

"Some kind of translation magic?"

"Languages are not a thing anymore," Daniel said casually.

"I mean, they are, but everyone understands everyone. It's not even that obvious when someone speaks a different language, the trick to notice it is to try and ignore the words and just listen to the sound. It has been that way since the event. Probably the System translating for us."

"It's not," El'el said.

"To understand each other's meaning is a universal rule, predating even the System."

"Not really universal if we didn't have it before, is it?" Evan muttered from the side.

"Well," the elf looked a bit sheepish.

"It's only natural. You didn't really exist until a few months ago. This is a new world, after all." She was met with alarmed silence.

"That's extremely debatable," Evan said calmly.

"After all, we have extensive evidence to the contrary. As far as I know, I wasn't born three months ago." Wait, three months ago?

"To you, it's not true," she carefully agreed.

"I understand that this is an alarming topic. But to the universe at large, the common understanding is that new worlds are created with preexisting history. There are scholars who support the theory that new worlds are discovered, and not created, but they are a minority. After all, their theories fail against a fundamental truth."

"Which is?" Evan asked, looking a bit like he was playing devil's advocate.

"Nothing can exist without divinity," she said.

"Without meaning. It is the fundamental substance from which everything else emerges. It is proven, since matter stripped of its meaning disintegrates into nothing. Since new worlds didn't possess divinity before appearing on a branch, according to the natives' claims, and things that exist despite lacking divinity just don't exist at all, the only possible conclusion is that new worlds didn't really exist before appearing, and their history is created at the same time as they are."

"You mean exp?" Lily asked.

"What you call divinity. It's experience, right? The thing we get from killing monsters?"

"Not so much from the act of killing, as from acknowledgement, but yes," she nodded.

"That is divinity. It is everywhere, in all forms, self-perpetuating, infinitely growing, and all-encompassing. In a way, everything is divinity. There were never any worlds found without it, because it is the existence itself. This proves that new worlds are created with preexisting history, and explains how you had to use 'languages' before emerging on the branch. I am sorry, but new worlds are what they are. New."

"Or," Evan said calmly.

"It's an observation error. You can't find any worlds without your so-called 'divinity' because you bring it with you. Like a virus. And Earth existed for billions of years, until our fundamental laws changed from coming in contact with your 'branch'."

"A popular argument, but easily dismantled," El'el said.

"There is a scholarly principle that goes like this – when one has different explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest one is usually correct."

"Occam's razor," Evan noted.

"We have that."

"For the preexisting worlds theory to be true, we must invent countless nonsensical axioms that would allow for them to exist without the touch of the divine," she said with a sad smile.

"Some have tried. It is a fun scholarly exercise, to come up with unprovable, overly complicated theories that explain the universe in a novel way while being useless and fundamentally just a thought experiment. Memories and what looks like a history can be created with divinity. That is a fact. For your world to have preexisted without it is…" She waved her hand, trying to find the right word.

"Possible, but not probable." Evan frowned, but didn't say anything else.