Chương 24: Just be Joyless Like Me

Sid sure hoped the next ring's XP reward would be higher. This one was easy, so he'd take the 400, but he kind of expected more for risking his life and all. Not to mention having to eat the depression the system threw at him by pointing out how little joy he had in life. Oh well. At least it was over, for now. But when Sid stepped through the door he found that he was alone. He figured he'd be one of the last ones out given how much time he wasted looking for nonexistent joy. Where was everyone?

More importantly, where was Allani? The truck was still there waiting for him. A large package was sitting in the back, just as Rina promised. Now this was a problem. Sid had nothing to protect himself with aside from his stupid switchblade pendant. But he couldn't just hijack the truck and leave everyone else stranded. Eh… Maybe he could have if Allani wasn't still stuck in the challenge. He paced back and forth and tapped his foot for a while.

His only saving grace was the fact that no one outside of his little party was there either. After enough pacing, he threw his arms back and groaned to the sky. This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all! He climbed into the passenger seat of the truck and rolled up the windows. He finished the challenge with four hours to spare, so surely they'd be out soon. Still, that was a long time for a helpless little fake mystic to wait.

The doors to the truck locked, but that didn't mean much when potential enemies had fucking magical skills. He leaned against the window and sighed.

"Must. Avoid. Sleep." His mind quickly abandoned that rule as he dozed off. He had just spent the last eight hours running around through mud and dust. Thankfully Ring did what Ring does and cleaned his clothes on the way out. She can throw her son to the wolves, but God forbid she let him walk around in a drenched habit. He was woken up by the sound of a scream. He jolted up and hit his head on the roof of the truck.

About ten meters away stood a lanky fellow with messy black hair gripping his arms and rocking back and forth. What had him so riled up? Sometimes Sid really didn't understand how easily scared others could get. There wasn't anything actually dangerous in Limbo, and the challenge gave ample time to find all five pieces. The man looked back and forth, unsure of where to step next. It was such a pitiful sight. A little lamb hopping around, lost in the big bad woods. Nothing a shepherd in the making couldn't handle!

Sid rolled down the window enough for him to peek his head out.

"Excuse me! Sir, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Uh…I'm not sure. D-do you know where I am? It was so cold…"

"You're on Ring. You were just in the weird grey void the system called Limbo. You completed the challenge, didn't you?" The man opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking again.

"Challenge? I-I think so. I don't know why I was doing a challenge." Oh. The man had left Limbo without finding his memory. Rina meant it when she said the door would let someone incomplete leave. How much time had passed while Sid was sleeping? You'd have to be pretty desperate to jump out without your memory. He knew that he was strangely calm about the situation, but ditching early was just rash. Well, one man's mistake was another man's opportunity.

"Do you know what you had when you went through the door?" The man sniffled.

"Definitely breath and blood. And…I did get joy. But that room sucked me in. I didn't realize how much time had passed until the system told me there was less than two hours remaining. I started feeling my mind dying." He gripped both sides of his head.

"I couldn't stand it! I had to leave before I went insane…" Sid reached for the door handle, but then he stopped to think for a second. What if the man was just playing dumb? Since arriving on Ring, Sid felt like he had a better idea of when people were lying as his presence and learning scores increased. Nothing was setting off alarm bells about the man outside; he genuinely seemed distressed. Sid opened the door and kept one hand on his pendant. As he stepped forward, the man took a step back.

Damn, he must have been quite rattled to be scared of Sid.

"Don't worry," Sid raised his hands, "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to make sure you return to our sanctuary in one piece."

"Sanctuary?" This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Of course. You don't have specific memories, but you can feel the Rose's embrace, can't you?" He nodded.

"I do remember Rosaecinism… The Rose is with us? Even here?"

"The Rose is always with us, child." Woof. Sid felt like a jackass calling a grown man child while he was freshly eighteen.

"Come on, let's pick up your reward and get it in the truck." You're such a kind shepherd. Really, what was that school thinking failing you out? You could've indoctrinated so many young men for them. You get +2 [Presence], +20 FAITH, and +30 XP. The other man did most of the hauling. Sid was too busy considering what a mind-fuck this was. The man participated in a Ring of Hell, so he had to have been a pawn, but was he still a pawn after losing his memory?

He wouldn't remember his role or any life events that got him assigned that role. Sid would also have to think of a new name for him, and he had no idea how his friends would react to the new stray he took in. Oh shit. There were two hours left and none of his friends had left Limbo yet. Were they all stuck prancing around in some joy-themed room he didn't have the chance to be sucked into? Sitting and waiting while they slowly died sounded like torture.

There had to be something he could do, some way to reach them. Forced Move and Zugzwang only worked when he could see the target. The only thing he could use to check in was Board Vision. He focused his thoughts on Allani and her system interface, hoping to get any insight into her current condition. [Board Vision]: Your allied pawn is currently participating in Limbo. She still has the [Fragmented] condition, and is missing her [Blood]. Dammit Allani, what the hell was she doing in there? She was going to die.

Everyone was going to die! Sid started biting his nails while his new companion curled up in the back of the truck. They both flinched as a system notification appeared. In one hour, Limbo's single person rule will be void, and outside pawns will be able to breach other pawns' pocket dimensions, for better or worse. However, be aware that entering another pocket dimension means you cannot leave until that pawn escapes or dies. Okay, so he still had a chance to save her.

The only problem was that he'd be risking his own life to do so. He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to kill Allani if it became necessary. Joining her pocket dimension meant potentially sealing the both of them in a very romantic tomb. Sid sat on the hood of the truck and tried to distract himself as the minutes passed by. The scared man needed a new name.

"Hey Harry," Sid said.

"Are you comfortable back there?"

"Are you talking to me?"

"Oh right! You forgot your name. It's Harry. So yes, I was talking to you." Harry scratched his head.

"I'm alright. I think…"

"You saw that system announcement right? Any minute we'll be able to go back in, and I'm planning to go save my friend." His eyes went wide.

"Do I have to go?" Sid chuckled.

"No, no. Don't worry, child, I'll handle everything." Bleh. Shepherd talk sucked, but Sid would have to get used to it. He convinced Harry to sit in silent prayer for the rest of the hour. The minutes were excruciating. Eventually the system popped up again to save him from his misery. Pawns have one hour left to leave Limbo. Any pawn outside of Limbo may choose to enter the pocket-dimension of a pawn that entered Limbo near their current location. Sid hopped off of the hood and waved goodbye to Harry.

By now he was quite certain the man wouldn't run off with both of their winnings. When Sid approached the purple spiral again, several concrete doors appeared with labels at the top. He found the one labeled "Allani Abbascia" and stepped inside. The first thing he noticed was the sound of laughter and circus music. He entered the same drab entryway his pocket dimension started with, but something was happening deeper inside. It was much livelier than anything he experienced in his challenge.

"Allani?" he shouted, walking towards the noise. Yellow and orange lights danced across the hallway he was walking down. The music got louder, and he could hear the familiar voice of Allani's father.

"And now for our finishing act; you know her, you love her, you wonder if you could be here: the marvelous Patchwork!" Sid ran forward and burst into the circus. The familiar sweet smell of kettle corn hit his nose. Cheers rang out from the audience as Allani rolled onto stage while balancing on a giant ball. She was in her normal clown outfit, smiling and blowing kisses to the crowd. As Sid got closer, he noticed that Allani's mouth was twitching and her eyes were trembling.

It wasn't what you'd expect from someone who was supposed to be knee deep in joy. Since she was still missing her blood, Sid wondered if she was wearing her foundation, or if that was just how her skin looked at the moment. If she felt as bad as he did without blood, she couldn't have been having a good time on that ball. If she wasn't having a good time, why was she still here? The scene in front of him started to flicker. It reminded him of the first time he saw the system appear back at St. Jane's.

The circus melted away into an intimate lounge with a sofa and fireplace. Allani was laying across the couch with her head resting in a woman's lap. Sid walked around to see the woman's face. Allani wasn't in her clown outfit anymore, and she wasn't even wearing her normal sailor jacket. She was in a black dress, something Sid had never seen her wear before. The other woman kind of looked like Rina, except her eyes were brown instead of blue.

Her clothes were much plainer than the intricate gothic dresses Sid's mother wore, and her hair was less stylized as well.

"Shh," the woman whispered.

"You played your part so well. You get to stay here forever with me now." What the actual fuck was he looking at.

"You! You're one of them!" Allani sat up and pointed at him.

"You shouldn't be here." Her eyes and veins started glowing purple as she approached him, her outstretched hand radiating with an overwhelming energy.

"Leave this place NOW."