Chương 22: Chapter 20 — No Luxuries

They made it to the forest without incident, and during the run Chelsea managed to push The Eyes up another level. Even while keeping pace, she found moments to flick her focus across the others, testing the skill whenever she could. At its current level, the information was still frustratingly limited. She could see first names now, which at least made everyone feel a little less like strangers, but anything deeper remained locked away.

It was enough to carry her to level four, but she could already feel the ceiling pressing down on her progress. Bea had made it clear that level five was where the skill truly opened up, and until then it was little more than a glorified status screen with occasional hints of something more. At level four, though, something new had appeared. Titles.

Chelsea had immediately checked herself, curiosity winning out over everything else, but she had not had the chance to dig into what that really meant before Adriane's voice cut through the trees.

"Stay alert. The edge of the forest is teeming with beasts," Adriane called back as they slowed, finally settling about a hundred yards inside the treeline. The shift in atmosphere was immediate. The forest felt alive in a way the open land had not. There were sounds everywhere. Leaves shifting, branches creaking, something distant moving through underbrush. It pressed in around them, thick and watchful.

"The fey do not eat meat, so you all will need to hunt before we arrive," Edgar added, his voice steady and matter-of-fact.

"In this forest, that should be no problem," Bea said, sounding far more relaxed than the situation deserved. She snapped her fingers twice in Chelsea's direction.

"Hey, demon girl. What's your class?" Chelsea blinked, a little thrown off by the sudden question.

"You didn't see it when looking me over?"

"That's not one of the visible items available without consent," Adriane explained before Bea could respond.

"Oh. Right." Chelsea rubbed the back of her neck.

"I'm a warrior. The general version." Dewey let out a laugh that rumbled through his chest.

"Hah. Definitely my favorite sister." Bea's expression sharpened instantly, her voice cutting in without hesitation.

"That's only because she's not blood and you want to fu…" Adriane moved faster than Chelsea could track. One moment Bea was speaking, the next her face was driven into the forest floor with a dull, heavy impact that sent dirt and leaves scattering.

"That's enough talking for you," Adriane said calmly, as if nothing unusual had happened. Chelsea stared, still trying to process the speed of it, but Adriane had already turned back to her.

"Chelsea, would you be up for a bit of light training?" Before she could answer, Dewey stepped in, his hand lifting slightly as if he could physically block the idea.

"Adriane, no," he said, his voice tight with urgency.

"She's too low level. You can train me in her place." Adriane didn't even consider it.

"No. She's stronger than you think she is. It will be good for her." There was something beneath her tone, something subtle but unmistakable. Not hesitation, not doubt, but something closer to weight. Like she understood exactly what she was about to do.

"Yeah," Chelsea said, stepping forward before she could second guess herself.

"I'd love to." The idea of being trained by an S-rank adventurer still carried a kind of excitement, even after everything. It meant progress. It meant survival. It meant she wasn't just stumbling blindly through this world anymore. She had barely taken a step when Dewey reached out and caught her arm. His grip wasn't tight, but it was firm enough to stop her.

"When the time comes," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes, "just submit. It's easier that way." Chelsea frowned, another piece of strange Wixx advice added to the growing pile, but before she could ask what he meant, Adriane was already moving. They followed her a short distance away from the others, far enough that the sounds of the group faded into the background, replaced by the low hum of the forest. Adriane stopped beside a tree, her attention shifting to it as if it were part of the lesson.

"When I say no luxuries," she began, "what comes to mind?" Chelsea considered it for a moment.

"Nice things, I guess. Expensive stuff. Comfort." Adriane nodded once.

"That's one definition." She stepped closer to the tree, running her fingers lightly along the bark as if examining it.

"When you fell earlier, you didn't stand back up. You were conscious. You were capable. But you stayed there and waited for Bea to fix it." Chelsea shifted slightly, caught off guard.

"I didn't know I was supposed to. Where I'm from, if someone is hurt, the worst thing you can do is move them." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Adriane turned her head, looking back at her with a flicker of genuine interest.

"You're not wrong," she said.

"In your world, that thinking makes sense." Then her expression changed.

"But you're not in your world anymore." Adriane sighed, "Here, a Wixx would call that an excuse. Excuses are not tolerated. You made a mistake, and instead of correcting it, you waited for someone else to fix it for you. That is a luxury." She faced Chelsea fully now, her presence suddenly much heavier.

"And luxuries are not tolerated." Then Adriane smiled. It was soft, familiar, and almost comforting.

"Chelsea, to you," Adriane asked, "what is pain?" Chelsea swallowed, trying to keep up.

"Scientifically? It's when nerve receptors detect tissue damage and send signals to the brain." Adriane raised a finger, her smile warming slightly.

"I like that answer." She turned back to the tree, placing her hand against the bark again.

"But functionally," she continued, "it's your brain saying, I don't like what's happening. Make it stop." Her fingers pressed lightly into the rough surface.

"That instinct will get you killed here." Her eyes looked to Chelsea without moving her head from the tree.

"I can make it so you don't feel pain. It would take fifteen minutes. It will hurt. And once we start, there is no stopping. But fifteen minutes of pain and you will have a lifetime without it. You could be unstoppable." Chelsea thought her words over. Is this what it meant to be a Wixx? To beat pain? Without putting much more thought into it and before she could talk herself out of it, she blurted out, "Yes." She hesitated then nodded.

"Yes please. I would like that. What do I need to do?" She glanced back at Chelsea.

"Come here." Chelsea stepped forward, closing the distance.

"Feel the bark," Adriane said.

"Pay attention to it." Chelsea reached out, pressing her hand against the tree. The surface was rough, uneven, the texture catching against her skin immediately.

"It's rough," she said. Adriane watched her carefully. There was that shift again in her voice, something quieter, something heavier beneath the surface.

"Chelsea," she said, "you're part of my family now. That means my love for you is unconditional." Chelsea felt something tighten in her chest at the words, unexpected and strangely sincere.

"Please remember that."

"Aww, Adriane, it's definitely a weird family, but…" Chelsea never got to finish. Adriane was crying. Not lightly quiet crying. Tears streamed down her face in a steady, unstoppable flow, her lips trembling as she struggled to hold herself together.

"I'm so, so sorry, sweetheart," she said, her voice barely holding. Confusion replaced everything else.

"What…" Chelsea never finished the thought. Adriane moved. One moment she was standing there, the next Chelsea's face was slammed into the tree with crushing force. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs and filled her vision with sparks. For a split second, her mind refused to understand what was happening. Then Adriane's hands locked in place. Chelsea tried to pull back, tried to twist away, but the strength holding her there was absolute. It did not matter how hard she pushed or how wildly she struggled.

She might as well have been pinned by the world itself.

"I'm sorry," Adriane repeated, her voice breaking harder now, the words tumbling out between sobs.

"I'm so sorry." And then she started moving her. Chelsea's body was dragged up the tree, then forced back down again, the rough bark catching immediately. The first sensation was, jarring, almost confusing in its intensity. Then it escalated, building into something far worse as her skin began to tear. The scream tore out of her before she could stop it. Dewey - 1 minute prior"Fifteen seconds." Bea said.

"There's no way she lasts longer."

"You must remember, my dear, she is no ordinary girl. I give her twenty seconds."

"Dewey." Bea snapped her fingers twice at him.

"Hey, how long do you think she'll last?" Dewey wanted nothing to do with this. He was strangely conflicted. He knew the training all too well. Knew what it could do. But he didn't want little sister to have to go through it. It was the most painful thing he could imagine. Bea would yell at him if he didn't say something though.

"One minute." he said.

"I think little sister will last one full minute." Guessing how long she could take the pain before passing out was twisted. Dewey knew that. But at the same time he wanted her to beat Bea's guess. She could do it. The screaming started. Bea's face lit up as she began counting. Unfortunately the screaming stopped when Bea got to eleven. Or… no… fortunately. The less time she screamed the better. That means the pain made her pass out.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Adriane carried little sister back to camp carefully, delicately, as if she were afraid the slightest shift could cause further harm. What remained of Chelsea barely resembled a person. Blood covered what little structure remained, her body reduced to something fragile and incomplete. Bone with bits of muscle still hanging on. Many of her organs were even injured. How was little sister still alive? Dewey turned away at the sight, his massive frame trembling.

Edgar stood still, his mask being the ever unchanging face, but his posture had gone rigid. Bea watched, her usual twisted expression gone, replaced by something far quieter. Adriane lowered Chelsea in front of Bea and gently set her down.

"Do it," she said. Her voice was hollow. Dewey knew Adriane better than most of the world. She cared about little sister. She cared deeply. More than Dewey had ever seen her care about anyone or anything. She turned and walked back into the forest without another word. Bea did not argue. She moved quickly, her hands working with practiced precision as she began to restore what had been destroyed. Magic flowed through her, knitting flesh, rebuilding structure, repairing what should not have been survivable.

Little sister, luckily, was still asleep for all of it. Dewey had had large portions of muscle regrown with that spell. It hurt almost as much as removing it. It took time. Nearly twenty minutes passed before Bea finally leaned back, exhausted, her work complete. Chelsea's body had been restored fully. Skin, eyes, horns, wings, even her hair, all returned as if nothing had happened. But something had. Something dark.

Dewey stood, walked over to the sleeping girl who laid naked and covered in puss-like fluid and gore and covered her with the cloak. He lifted her up and carried her over to where he had been sitting, wrapped her more in the cloak and laid her down in his lap.

"Sleep little sister. You have earned it."