Chapter Text
you’re broken.
all battered and bruised…
this isn’t how you wanted to go out, is it?
you can still live on.
we will put you back together.
RELOAD - STATE 0
Act 1 - Into a New Game +
Chapter 1: Welcome Back to Helena, Town of Flowers
A prophecy as old as time itself states that two worlds will become as one.
During this time, noble heroes will charge forth to conquer the darkness that lurks within the depths of the new world.
They will fight against threats new and old in their journey to discover the truth.
…
the rest of the prophecy has been deleted.
for this world is unpredictable, prophecies will help you no more.
you will only fear the end if you knew how it went.
you would doubt your own power, even after all you have done for your world.
we cannot let you succumb to this fear.
now, arise.
face a beginning once more...
“…”
“.........”
“P..nce..s”
“Princess.”
“Open your eyes…”
“Idiot, she has one eye.”
“Oops… What I said still stands, though!”
Princess opened her eye to find two mildly bickering girlfriends standing over her bed.
The first of which was Lucy, her sister. Who had long pale blonde hair, was light-skinned, and with green eyes like shining emeralds. She was wearing a green t-shirt with a blue clover on it and black shorts.
The second was Elizabeth, vibrantly blonde hair, light-skinned with a hint of pink for indiscernible reasons, and blue eyes like sapphires. Beth wore a purple t-shirt with black pants.
“Seriously, Lucy. How do you casually forget about that?” Beth crossed her arms as she gave Lucy an entirely unimpressed look.
“They call me dumb-face for a reason, haha.” The dumb-face shot Elizabeth her patent-pending dumb-smile.
“Who calls you dumb-face?”
“They do.”
“Who’s they?”
Yet Elizabeth’s question would remain unanswered as Princess slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eye, and rubbing what was left of her other one for good measure… Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt later.
“Morning, sis!” Lucy smiled, entirely disregarding what she was just saying to Elizabeth.
“Ah, good morning, Princess. Breakfast is ready.” Beth smiled warmly down onto her.
Princess yawned out her response, “Good… Morning…”
Lucy ruffled her sister’s hair as she held Elizabeth’s hand, walking out the door with her.
Princess stood up out of her red-blanketed bed. She picked up and wore her white eyepatch from her wooden bedside cabinet. With a deep breath to start the day, Princess got up and made her way out the bedroom, walking past her sister’s green-blanketed bed, and resisting the very minor temptation to boot up the personal computer on the desk and start playing one of the many disc-copy games she and her sister owned.
She entered the hallway and stood before the bathroom door next to her bedroom. As she reached for the handle, the door flew open, sending a world-destroying shockwave through Princess’ body that shattered her in an instant!…
Okay, she just jumped back, but it FELT like she was shattered from the fright.
“Oops!” An energetic girl’s voice chuckled in the doorway. “Sorry about that, Princess!” It was Lana, Lucy’s other girlfriend. With tied-up white hair, lightly-tanned skin and green eyes a slightly darker shade than Lucy’s. Lana was wearing an orange tank-top with black tracksuit bottoms.
“It’s fine… Good morning, Lana.”
“G’mornin’!” With that greeting out of the way, she dashed down the hall, then slowly and carefully descended the staircase, before dashing into the living room.
As Princess entered the bathroom, the first thing she did was look in the mirror. She saw her own reflection smiling back at her.
Her hair was blonde, long enough in the back to reach her elbows, and covering the eyepatch on the right side of her face in the front. Despite just being asleep, her hair was neat and tidy, Princess always took good care of it. Her skin was pale, but not the sickly-pale it used to be, it was a more healthy tone. She had a blue eye of radiant daytime, she used to have two, but after a certain situation, only one eye had to do the radiant heavy-lifting… Oh, and she was wearing her very pretty orange nightgown! A gift from Loraine after the aforementioned situation. It was certainly a good thing she was actually willing to do more than just the bare minimum to survive, and now functioned like an actual human being!
Princess did the usual daily rituals, the brushing of teeth, the washing of the face, and the taking of the pills. Loraine had told her to take one of both of her pills every day ever since she reached the age of 12. And despite never being told what the pills would do, Princess obliged anyway, because Loraine clearly knew best.
After the rituals were complete, she made her way downstairs and into the dining room. The six-seated table was set in five spots, for Princess, Elizabeth, Loraine, Lana and Lucy… That’s a LOT of L names. How had she only just realised..? No wait… There’s even more…! The L’s are taking over!!!
After quickly snapping out of her little “L” state, she took a seat beside Loraine, her short brown-haired, light-skinned, always-has-her-eyes-shut adoptive mother, who always wore a white shirt with a purple skirt… And sometimes a green apron.
Lucy, as was the norm when Lana was staying over, was sat between her two girlfriends. Lucky… Whenever Lucy was anywhere close to the two of them, a slight blush was just barely visible on her face. Everyone had noticed.
Princess DEVOURED her bacon and eggs like a very polite individual. Elizabeth had beaten her to finishing first, however. Beth was a dragon of breakfast.
Beth took her plates into the kitchen and then went upstairs. When she came back down, she was in a greenish janitor outfit.
“Well, I’m off.” She sighed. “Don’t miss me too much, Lucy.”
“I always do!” Lucy fired back at her, trying not to sound completely desperate for her affection.
With a gentle chuckle, Beth kissed Lucy on the cheek, gave Lana a fist-bump and head patted Princess, before leaving the house to tackle the most gruesome dungeon of them all… The local supermarket.
Gods bless her poor soul…
Once Princess had finished her breakfast, she deposited her plates, cutlery and glass into the kitchen sink. She returned to her bedroom to get dressed for the day…
But first.
She had to check on someone…
So she closed her eyes…
And imagined Eternity…
WELCOME BACK TO THE ETERNAL SPACE
THIS PLACE HAS BEEN YOURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRnull.
506 A.H - GUARDIAN’S KEEP
A beautiful kingdom stood proud under a false sky.
The false sun blessed the kingdom with radiant sunlight.
A blue pixie flew down, looking over the peaceful place.
Our story begins with a small group of Knights, rookies to the group known as the Guardians. Under the watchful eye of the red-haired Knight Captain EVA, they were the newest set of KANTERBURY’s protectors.
“Good work, guys. At ease!” The Captain called out, her 5 recruits stopped attacking their training dummies. “As GUARDIANS, it is our duty to protect KANTERBURY from evil.
Keep bettering yourselves!”
Her Knights saluted their captain.
“Today we finally have a new recruit who passed the entrance exams.
Step up and report yourself, new GUARDIAN!”
EVA motioned to the front-middle training dummy.
A quiet, young and passionate GUARDIAN.
Their name was .
“Congratulations, kid.” EVA smiled down upon . “I knew you would make it.
I expect you to become a full-“
The ground shuddered, the false sky grew dim.
“Cap, Captain!” A Knight on watch called out to EVA. “Reporting a large unidentified object approaching…!
…from the sky!”
EVA and both stepped up to see what the Knight was talking about. Dark clouds covered the false sky.
“Dear PROMETHIA…!” Knight LINDA muttered to herself as a giant black sphere made its presence known.
“What the heck is that?!” Knight BOB screamed in terror, before being hit by one of many explosives launched from the object!
“Oh my god… BOB!!!” LINDA screamed, running as fast as her legs could carry her to where BOB fell.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!” A Knight on watch ran back and forth, panicking wildly.
EVA had trained for this very moment, she hurriedly communicated the strategy to the Knight beside her. “Alert the GUARDIANS and set up a defence line at wall 7!”
“Yes, yes ma’am!” The Knight responded, running to complete their task.
EVA turned to . “Stay behind me until we get-“
They were both hit by an explosive! Both sent flying!
flew into the air, fearing certain death, until they were saved by a blue pixie’s magical barrier!
there was nobody to save.
The pixie revealed a human form. Bluish black skin, short, black hair with light blue streaks covering her right eye. (That is to say, left from another’s perspective.) Her visible eye was a bright blue. She wore a vantablack cloak, lined with two streaks of turquoise and a darker turquoise. She had a black shirt, with four dangly bits at the bottom of it, black trousers and grey boots.
She quickly realised what was going on, seeing trapped in the bubble she created.
The girl quickly fled the scene.
She ran ahead, along the unusual layout of KANTERBURY CASTLE’s defence line.
She arrived at a square section of the line, three black masses rose up from the ground and formed into… Things..?
They were some kinds of white-masked human-like creatures, they had some what seemed to be beige manes, like ragged lions, entirely black skin, and wore clothes reminiscent of a stone-age civilisation.
The three creatures let out screams in a language unbeknownst to the girl, but their wooden clubs being raised immediately signalled that they were threats.
She grabbed hold of her scythe, it seemed like an ordinary staff at first, but whenever she needed, she could summon a magical red scythe-blade from within! That is exactly what she did.
Without too much trouble, she cut down the opponents in her way, they dissipated into black particles with red outlines.
The girl continued onward, cutting down anything that dared stand in her path.
Eventually, she came across the entrance to the Throne Room. But before she could enter, a powerful beast dropped down from above!
It was like one of the other creatures she encountered… But bigger. With a different styled mask, and a giant axe.
She didn’t care enough to fight it, she was already so close to the Throne Room. With a simple kick WHERE IT HURTS, the beast went down, and she progressed onwards.
Inside the pristine white throne room was..!
Princess!?
She wore her usual outfit, red shirt with dangly bits, black trousers and grey boots.
But more importantly, what was going on!?
“Libera!” Princess called out to the girl, running towards her with the Champion’s Sword in hand. “What… What’s going on..? Why do I have the Sword..? Why are we in-“
A demonic cackle emanated from the throne. A shadowy human sat upon it with unrecognisable features.
“Look at you, little playthings.” The Shadow spoke, opening eyes of a fiery red. “I do hope you’ll make this game enjoyable for me?”
“Wh-Who are you!? What’s going on here!?”
“Isn’t it obvious, 202?… Or should I call you… Princess and Libera?”
“How… Do you know that designation!? Or my name!?”
“You want answers? I can provide. But you’ll have to fight your way to them.
Reach me. At the bottom of this LABYRINTH OF THE HEART…”
“LABYRINTH..? Why does this whole thing… Feel familiar to me..?”
“And while you’re at it… Death may have been of no consequence in your precious little TETIS, after all, you could just reset everything, the God you were… But here? I’m your God. I’m in control. This LABYRINTH can continue even without you. So, if you die. It’s Game Over for you!” The Shadow cackled wildly before…
Princess was jolted awake by Lucy.
“Earth to Princess! Oh! You’re up! Good! I got super worried there for a second!”
“S…Sorry, I was just… Checking on Libera.” Princess was barely able to concoct that lie after what she just witnessed, and she felt bad for doing so… Well, she wasn’t technically lying, as that was her intention as she closed her eyes… At least Lucy knew about Libera ever since the… QUEEN incident…
“Oh! Ohh!! Ohhh!!! I’m sorry! I didn’t realise!”
“It’s fine… Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay… Um… So… What were we going to do today? I… Kinda forgot, hehe.” The dumb-face dumb-smiled.
Princess smiled back, Lucy’s smiles were heavily infectious. “We’re meeting everyone in the park and deciding what to do from there.”
“Great! Thanks, sis!” With a quick hug, Lucy collected some of her clothes from the closet and ran into the bathroom to give Princess some privacy.
Now with a little bit of time alone, Princess asked herself the burning question on her mind.
What the ffffffffffffffflapjacks did she just dream about!?
“LABYRINTH.” Libera called out from within Princess’ mind, the young girl only using her voice when absolutely necessary. “It’s rooted in our heart.”
“What do you mean?” Princess thought back to Libera. “Rooted in our heart? What does that mean!?”
“Connected. To us… Can’t escape. I’m… Still here…”
“How can I help you? Should I fall back asleep?”
“No… Go be with your friends. I… Will wait. I’m safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Princess decided, with some reluctance, to listen to Libera. There was no point in her trying to fall back asleep to help Libera; Lucy would just wake her up again.
She got dressed into her usual clothes, quickly brushed her already near-perfect hair, and then awaited Lucy so the two could set off together.
They, along with Lana who had decided to join them on their walk, made their way to the park. Past three houses, up to the main plaza, and right from there.
That’s where Lana almost immediately departed from the party, as she was going for a jog! Her first of many for the day.
Luckily, they wouldn’t be all alone! Lavi and Favi were there!
Lavi stood tall… And buff… She was black, with brown eyes that held only a single brain cell behind them. Her hair was long, messy and bright orange, despite Princess’ repeated offers to help her brush it. She wore a pink-horned headband, a graphic t-shirt depicting the ‘Angry Melon God’ from ‘The Legend of Hyper: Mask of Mejuju’, black shorts and pink trainers with white socks.
Favi stood a little shorter than his twin sister, he had the same skin tone and eyes, but had short-black hair. He wore a white sweater, light blue denim trousers and white shoes. He had also gotten a pair of white glasses! Because he was a nerd, of course.
Why did Princess feel the need to describe her friends and family, despite having last seen them only yesterday? She was entirely unsure. But she would continue this trend, regardless.
“Yo! Princess, Lucy!” Lavi called out, reaching for an immediate high five from Princess, which she of course received. “We’re just waiting up on Sohee and Hana now!”
“Good morning, you two.” Favi smiled gently, his arms behind his back. “I hope you slept well.”
“Psshh.” Nigh-immediately scoffed Lucy. “Hard to sleep with two women on your arms.”
Lavi tilted her head, “You’ll never stop bragging about that, eh?” Then let out a hearty chuckle. “Neither would I, haha!”
Favi half-heartedly laughed along, his smile slightly curved into a frown. Princess lightly patted him on the back and the smile came back.
“And how did you sleep, Princess?” Favi reciprocated the back-patting. “I hope they weren’t keeping you up all night.”
“I slept fine, thank you.”
Lavi pushed between the two of them, and wrapped her BULKING BEHEMOTH (well, for a 16 year old) ARMS around them both. “I slept like crap! I was way too excited for today!”
“Ooh, why?” Lucy’s eyes shined like emeralds. “Does something cool happen today? A new game release?”
“Nah. I just like going out with my friends!” Lavi’s arms tightened around Princess and Favi. The two were very close to being crushed to death… Not that Princess particularly minded such a fate at the hands of Lavi. There were certainly worse ways to go out. “Speaking of friends, where’s Hana and Sohee? They runnin’ late or something?”
“Actually!” A voice spoke from behind, who could it have been!?
They all turned behind them to see…
A light-skinned girl, with white hair with an orange streak, tied up in a ‘tail she could probably whip someone with! She had blue eyes of the piercing variety that laid behind glasses, because she was a nerd, too! She wore a white hoodie, a black skirt, black leggings and white boots. It was Sohee, of course!
Sohee was flashing some new digital wristwatch on her left-hand wrist. It displayed the current time: 09:55… That’s it. That’s all it was doing. It was literally just wristwatch, it’s 2005, not 2077, it’s not going to shoot laser beams out the sides… Is it?
“The agreed upon time was 10 AM. The current time is T minus 5 minutes. We are all early, you utter plebeian.”
“Yo!” Staring at the watch, Lavi approached Sohee. “Sick watch! Where’d you get it?”
“From KAMA-MART, Hana and I were grocery shopping and I happened upon it!”
“Oh yeah, you live with her now….. Wait, you didn’t spend Mari’s grocery money on that, did you!?”
“Don’t be absurd! I’d never do that to our dearest caretaker!”
“Then how the heck didja… Sohee… Don’t tell me you stole your mom or dad’s credit card again?”
“I get away with it, it doesn’t matter!”
“Seriously, So? One of these days they’re gonna realise what you’re doing!”
“They’ll have to find me first, AHAHAHAHA!”
“You live like, what? Six houses down? They’d find you pretty easily.”
As the back and forth between nerd and colossus continued, Hana used a teleport command to appear behind Princess… Not really, but her sudden appearance was made very clear by the hand that Princess felt grabbing her own.
Hana had short blue hair that was slightly messy, pale skin and purple eyes, like an amethyst in a dark cavern. She wore a white jacket, with dark blue fabric at the bottom, a black shirt, black shorts, black knee-high socks and black shoes. A red ascot (Princess finally knew what it was called) was tied around her collar.
Princess didn’t even have to look at Hana to be able to tell. She just knew. Turning to face Hana only revealed that she was correct in her assumption.
She smiled at Hana, Hana smiled back.
“Hi.” Was all Hana could quietly muster up, being both in an open public area and in a group of people made her really nervous, after all. Not that she didn’t enjoy being around everyone, the nerves were just an ever-present threat.
“Hello.” Princess quietly responded, pulling the shy girl in for a quick hug, which reddened Hana’s face a lot, before turning most of her attention back to the rest of the group.
Lucy had gotten between Lavi and Sohee, like the responsible and mature adult she was. “Okay, you two lovebirds,” …Semi-mature. “Simmer down!”
Sohee blushed wildly but Lavi simply laughed.
“Sooooo… Anyone got any idea what we could do today?”
The entire group was silent. The collective brain cell seemed to be taking the day off.
After a brief minute of everyone standing awkwardly in total loss, Sohee finally spoke up.
“Screw it, just come to our house.” And she walked off, with Lavi quick on her tail going “WOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“I… Guess it’s decided for now?” Favi let out an awkward chuckle before following his sister.
“Sounds like a pretty good plan, eh you two?” Lucy smiled as she walked in front of Princess and Hana.
“I-I guess I don’t mind…” Hana stuttered out, the tension easing from the dispersion of the group. “But… It might not be so clean…”
“Why’s that, Hana?” Princess asked, still holding Hana’s hand, she placed her other hand on top of the hand she was already holding.
“You’ll see…”
With that accidentally ominous note, the entire group headed to Hana’s house. Down the first crossroads from the plaza, to the left of the second crossroad, past three houses… Boom! Hana’s one storey (plus attic) house.
Sohee approached the door and opened it wide. From within, a speeding BULLET TRAIN shot right past her! It jumped right onto Hana, who managed to catch it in her arms…
It was a little white rabbit!
And then, following at the same speed as the bullet train rabbit, a pink-haired girl. She was light-skinned, had blue eyes and was vaguely buff… She wore a black tank top, a denim skirt, black socks and had a blue-ribboned headband in her hair.
Who else could it have been but the Keeper of the Rabbit, Aubrey.
“Oh, good.” She exhaled. “You caught Bun-Bun. I was ready to run down the street to catch her. Thanks, Hana.”
“N-N-N-No… P-P-Problem..? She… Just jumped in my arms… Though…”
“Sohee, next time… Like, knock on the door before you enter… Also, hi, everyone, I guess. What’s going on here?”
Sohee rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”
“We’re here to chill!” Lavi told Aubrey as she entered first.
Everyone entered Hana’s house.
On the left side of the main room was a white couch with wooden chairs beside it, with a carpet of the same colour on the floor below it. In front of the carpet was a small, brown table with a television on it. There were several shelves, which all held flower pots containing several kinds of colourful flowers, they were all very well looked after. The right of the room was a dining room and kitchen, they were both very tidy and well-decorated. The wallpaper was white with a light blue vine pattern, and was still very pleasing to Princess’ eye… Wow that saying was literal now!
Lucy, Favi, Lavi and Sohee made themselves comfortable on the sofa and chairs by the television. Princess stood with Hana…
Princess felt… Weird…
She felt… Light…
What… Was this..?
She was back in KANTERBURY CASTLE.
It was dead silent. The once under-attack land was now barren. Libera was nowhere to be found.
Princess held the Champion’s Sword tightly… Why was it here? Why was she here?
TETIS was supposed to be… Done. She was done with this, with Eternity. So why had the Sword appeared to her?
It was uncomfortable. So uncomfortable.
At least she CHOSE, well, usually chose, to go to TETIS. Besides, it was always when she went to sleep. But this? She was pulled in while awake!
What was going on!? Where was Libera!?
The Shadow from earlier reappeared.
“Scared, are you? Good. That fear is delicious.”
“Wh-Where’s Libera!?” Princess screamed at the Shadow.
“Oh, reel it back a little. I pulled you here because I had a question for you.”
“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything!?”
“Calm it, I just want to confirm something with you, this is your world I’ve stolen, after all.” The Shadow chuckled to itself. “Your friends. They’re Lavi, Favi, Sohee, Hana… And what is the name of the last one?”
It knew… It must have found the TETIS versions of her friends… What was going to happen to them? Why did it need to know? She almost felt lucky to have abandoned Lucy’s name for the KNIGHT.
“Hurry it up, would you? I’m bored.”
“C-Clover.” That was all she could think to say to protect Lucy… If she even was protecting her.
“Thanks, was that so hard?”
“What do you even need it for?”
“That’s a surprise for later, don’t you fret. You’ll become familiar with it soon enough.”
“I don’t like this. Not one bit.”
“Rude to talk to the game master that way, but oh well, kids will be kids.”
“Who even are you!?”
“Someone that you used to know.” It had no features, yet a wide, red grin appeared on its face. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Explore the place in your own time. Don’t feel pressured. Or do. Whatever helps you put on a good show. We’re all watching.”
“Just… Just shut up and leave me alone! You’re… You’re just some dream thing!”
“This isn’t JUST a dream, Princess! It’s a GAME. And in this game, every choice has consequences. Here are the consequences of yours!” The Shadow let out a maniacal cackle, before disappearing into nothingness.
And in it’s place, appeared…
THE MINOTAUR ATTACKED!
THE MINOTAUR
The blight of KANTERBURY CASTLE. Now in the LABYRINTH, too.
Despite the injuries it has sustained, it is far more powerful than ever before.
It is fuelled by hatred, and a desire for bloodshed.
However, it's not very intelligent. Easy to lure into precarious situations.
The MINOTAUR slammed it’s battle axe down into the floor with a huff.
Princess wasn’t afraid of this thing! It was a tutorial boss that Lucy used to show them all how Guardians & Goblins worked! It wasn’t meant to hit hard!
She approached the beast, slashing with the Champion’s Sword! The ultimate weapon meant to behead the most powerful Invader, The Saviour!
Oh god, Intet was screwed right from the start…
Disturbing to think about, but now wasn’t the time for those thoughts!
The Sword dealt considerable damage to the beast! It readied itself for a slash!… It took a few seconds for it to actually attack, tutorial bosses are usually slow, after all. And when it did…!
It REALLY HURT Princess!
Seemed as if the MINOTAUR had received MAJOR ATTACK STRENGTHENING.
Princess had to be careful, she didn’t want to find out what Game Over meant for her.
The MINOTAUR lowered it’s horns towards Princess, and scraped it’s foot against the ground. A clear indicator it was going to charge her!
In an act of quick thinking, she ran in front of one of the throne room’s pillars.
Her enemy charged towards her! She ducked out of the way as quickly as she could! The not-very-well-thought-out plan seemed to have worked! The beast was crushed by the rubble of the broken pillar!……
AND IT ROSE FROM THE DUST AND CHARGED PRINCESS AGAIN!
It was a direct hit! Princess was knocked into another pillar!
She fell off the pillar, onto her stomach, the Sword became stuck into the ground, she used it to help herself up and then pulled it out.
The MINOTAUR approached, readying itself for a sideways slash, one that could very well knock Princess into the wall.
She thought she had a way to block the strike. By raising the sword up like Hyper did in The Legend of Hyper series, she theorised she could perhaps…
Parry the strike?
Stupid strategy, if she failed, she’d probably find out what it meant to die in this place. But… She was a bit of a risk-taker, after all.
The beast slashed it’s battle axe, the noble Princess gathered all of her might and..!
SHING!
A PERFECT parry!
The MINOTAUR’s axe was thrown into the air! It smashed into another pillar!
Princess felt POWER surge through her! She performed a Spinning Slash! One powerful enough to not only break the pillar behind her, but to LAUNCH the MINOTAUR into the last remaining pillar!
Of course, breaking the structural support of a room is scarcely a good idea. Here, it was especially poor of a decision, because the roof fell apart and came down.
But it was okay! Princess parried the rubble!
No, seriously.
She slashed away the rubble that was falling down upon her… And she was safe… She wasn’t sure about the logic behind it, but this was a dream world, need mortal logic apply?
Whatever the case, she was relatively safe now…
Oh? The MINOTAUR’s battle axe was still intact…
Princess had an idea.
It was a silly one. But it was an idea.
She stabbed The Champion’s Sword into the bottom of the battle axe. Now she had The Champion’s MINOTAUR’s Battle Sword-Axe!
Oh… It was really heavy! Bad idea! Bad idea!!!
Princess barely managed to free The Sword from the battle axe, but what now?
If only there was a way for her to store the battle axe and keep it for later, she thought to herself.
Then, entirely out of the blue, Libera appeared beside her.
“Libera! Where were you?” Princess asked the young girl. However, the girl was clearly more concerned with what happened to Princess, so she explained everything to her… While it was true that they mostly shared memories, Princess appreciated moments where she could just, sit down and talk. Likewise, Libera appreciated being able to listen. Explaining regardless of memories was mutually beneficial for them both on an emotional level.
Understanding Princess’ plight of wanting to take the battle axe along, Libera grabbed the thing and shoved it into her tiny pocket.
It fit.
They had really not made the most of that during their time in TETIS, huh?
But now what? Princess had to wake up, but she didn’t feel comfortable leaving Libera alone in this…LABYRINTH… Hell, why did this whole thing…… Ring a bell..?
“we see you’re in need of assistance”
Another voice? Seriously? Enough with the mysteries! Princess felt the collective group brain cell overclocking with all of this information!
The voice quickly revealed itself by appearing before Princess and Libera as… Wait, ASH from CULT OF THE CHOSEN ONE!?
The figure wore a red robe with their hood up…And that was all that was significant about this person on an appearance level.
“ASH? You’re… Not completely disintegrated after what we did to you?” Princess asked the unusual figure, genuinely confused as to… Well, everything, really.
“ash? so that is the name of the one whom this form once belonged to? we would rather you not refer to us as such. instead, if you for whatever reason were to wish to call upon us, just say ‘null’, alright?”
“null? Is that… Your name?”
“perhaps so, perhaps not. regardless…” null extended an arm out, a familiar door appeared before the throne. “we have summoned the eternal door that leads back to your eternal space. we hope you don’t mind that we have taken residence within for the time being.”
“Huh? First, how do you know about our… Very very private mindscape room..? Second, how have you… ‘Taken residence’?”
“don’t ask, please. just be appreciative that we are able to keep you both safe within your own eternity. do not ‘look a gift cat in the mouth’, no?”
“It’s… Gift horse, isn’t it?”
“whatever.”
Libera certainly didn’t trust null, and neither did Princess, really. But null definitely was not wrong about that… Gift cat thing. If null was going to help, then they should just take it. And if null wanted them dead, null could’ve just killed them outright, no? Libera and Princess came to a silent agreement to take the assistance of null, albeit, with a very large grain of suspicion.
“Then, I guess we’ll take the help. Thank you, null.”
null opened the door for the two of them…
And back they went…
WELCOME BACK TO THE ETERNAL SPACE.
THIS PLACE HAS BEEN YOUR SAFE HAVEN FOR AS LONG AS YOU NEED.
THE ETERNAL SPACE was very different from how it used to be. For one, the grey room was larger, big enough to fit two. The room also had proper furnishing; the light blue carpet only spanned a small section in front of the door, there was a desk that Libera’s diary was now safely placed upon, two beds for the two inhabitants, and picture frames hung up around. The pictures contained whatever memories the two wished to remember, though, given the nature of memories, what was shown was not always consistent, sometimes they’d flat-out disappear and be replaced. The room had windows, too, but they didn’t necessarily show any outside. It was just stars. A sky that once belonged to TETIS, it was too beautiful to not bring along.
But the most important feature…
The Clock.
It was no longer a burden upon them. It was now… A reminder. That even when staying within an enclosed eternity, time will tick on somewhere else. They shouldn’t lose themselves with the feeble notion of stagnancy. Change is an inevitability, and you have to understand and accept that, no matter how hard it may be to do so. The Clock ticked away, not loud enough to be a disturbance, but not so quiet as to be impossible to hear. It was just an ever-present noise to break apart silence.
Princess laid in her bed, a soft mattress with pile of white pillows atop it. It had red covers with a dark-red clover pattern spread across. Feeling the fluffy pillows envelop her body, even if just a figment of her imagination, quickly eased all of the tension she felt…
And she found herself slipping back…
Into reality.
When Princess opened her eyes, she found herself in Hana’s bathroom, alongside Lucy and Mari.
Mari’s was a light-skinned adult woman with long, purple hair and black eyes. Despite being 21, two years older than Lucy, she was the same height as her. She was wearing a white dress with black polka dots and a light-purple unzipped hoodie. Mari wore glasses, too, but Princess didn’t feel right calling her a nerd.
“Libera?” Lucy called out directly in Princess’ face, her voice sounded highly concerned… Wait, Libera? “Sis, what happened?”
Then, Mari spoke up, she too sounded concerned. “Libera, sweetie? Is everything alright? You went quiet on us!”
“N-Not… Libera.” Princess quietly groaned out.
“Princess!?” The two women spoke in unison.
“So, is what Libera told us true?” Lucy, though slightly panicked, gently held Princess. “Are you falling into… Another dream?”
Princess wearily nodded. “More like… Pulled in.”
Mari sighed, uncertain what to make of this situation. “Well, I’m glad that she told us, rather than keeping it all a secret. We’ll help you in any way we can. Since we know it can pull you in, talk to us if you need to lay down alright, sweetie?”
“I… Will… Thank you…” Princess felt awfully exhausted, what time even was it?
Princess returned to her friends in the living room, they were gathered on the seats by the television. Hana was just quietly and nervously petting Bun-Bun.
“Yo! Princess!” Lavi was the first to notice her returning. “You good?”
Sohee aggressively nudged Lavi. “Dumbass. It might be something personal.”
“No, no.” Princess spoke meekly. “I’m fine, I promise.”
Favi had a look of concern in his eyes, who could blame him? But he smiled anyway and said, “If you’re sure, Princess. We’re glad.”
Princess sat beside the worried Hana. The poor thing looked, and clearly felt guilty for this somehow. She had a tendency to blame herself for everything. It was a depressive cycle that Princess had observed and suffered from firsthand. But Princess felt no malice towards her for it. She thought of it more as… A price for her sins. Karmic retribution. Something along those lines. Princess couldn’t bring herself to blame Hana.
Hana seemed a little comforted by the rabbit, but what she clearly needed was confirmation.
Slowly and carefully, as two not frighten either Hana or Bun-Bun, Princess placed her hand on Hana’s.
Hana looked up at Princess, her eyes were a little teary.
“I’m okay.” Princess mouthed, “I promise.”
I’m response, Hana just quietly nodded… And suddenly her cheeks were being cupped by Princess’ hands.
“I promise you.” Princess mouthed slower, making eye contact with Hana.
The blue-haired girl’s face glowed red, and it remained that way long after Princess let go of her.
It was then lunch time. Mari had decided to treat everyone with food from DRAGON OF DINNER. She had Aubrey and Lavi, who helpfully volunteered, pick up the food with her. There was a lot of food, no doubt it would’ve been a difficult carry, even for the short distance.
The six friends all sat together, Mari and Aubrey sat by the kitchen counters.
As they all chatted, Princess found her mind drifting to those monsters Libera saw. What were they? They were never a part of TETIS……
Wait! Yes they were!
Princess almost slammed her fork onto the table with the realisation, barely stopping herself before anyone noticed.
Those creatures appeared in the DUNGEON KINGDOM RUINS! Alongside that blonde girl! What was her name…? Ah, LUMINE!
She mentioned a name, too…
ICARUS!
Oh, Princess was on a roll! Already uncovering the secrets of the LABYRINTH!…
Maybe… Maybe this was nothing? It was too easy. This was likely just… A small thing, wasn’t it?
But, it was a lead! Lucy would want her to be optimistic about it! So she was going to be!
To help out Princess, Libera wrote down about the creatures in her diary. Just to keep it pinned in their shared memory for when she needed it.
For now, Princess had to hang out with her friends, like a friend would do.
Everyone simply watched a few bad movies on of those TV channels that shows movies 24/7. Hana and Aubrey seemed to discuss rabbits and rabbit-care whilst Bun-Bun ran around or rested and all other kinds of bunny things.
With having to remember those creatures, Princess found it difficult to really focus on anything.
By the time the group started to split apart, about 6pm or so, Princess dragged Lucy into the plaza. She didn’t even explain why! Lucy was very confused, but went along with it.
Princess entered the Bakery and ran towards the counter, there sat Atlas, who looked up from his Space Boyfriend comic upon noticing the girl.
Atlas was a man with white, fluffy hair that seemed to defy the laws of physics. He had relatively dark skin, with some slight scars on the right side of his face, barely hidden by a black eyepatch. His visible eye was a light gold-ish colour. Atlas wore a white t-shirt and grey trousers, with a blue apron to complete the ‘I work at a bakery’ look. He wore a necklace with a red gem with a flame-like sigil embedded around his neck.
“Jeez, careful!” Atlas gave Princess a warning stare. “If you trip and fall I’m gonna laugh at you!”
“Can I borrow a pen and paper?” Princess quickly asked, tapping her hands against the counter because she simply had no idea what to do with all this energy she had randomly summoned.
“Have you tried… Oh, I dunno, the hobby shop?”
“Please?”
Atlas stared at Princess.
Princess stared at Atlas.
…
…
…
The two of them came to a silent one-eyed agreement.
“Oh, fine. Just because if I don’t, you’d probably tell the news I was bullying a disabled child. And as much as I’d love to be on the news for something stupid, I’m not doing that to Brii. Speaking of…” Atlas turned around on his stool, looking over into the Bakery’s kitchen. “Brii! We’re gonna need a pen and paper in here!”
“What for?” The woman called back.
“Hell if I know! That Princess girl wants it!”
Brii emerged from the kitchen. She was dark-skinned, though a little lighter than Atlas. Her eyes were purple and yellow, with glasses in front to protect the world from her eyes’ sheer awesomeness. Her hair was two-tone, black and silvery white, her shirt was two-tone black and white, her apron was, you guessed it! Two-tone, though it was, pink and red, and her trousers were just black. She also wore a necklace with a purple gem with a lightning-like sigil embedded around her neck.
She placed the pen and paper down in front of Princess. Princess wasted no time getting to work on drawing the creatures she saw in her dreams.
“Y’know.” Began Atlas, “Today’s been a kinda slow day, we’ve had what? Three customers? The least you could do is buy something for inconveniencing us, eh?”
After lightly smacking him on the shoulder with a hand towel, Brii placed a hand on her hip. “Three customers, but one of them placed a ‘Dragon’s Treasury’-sized order, I think we’ll pay the bills just fine this month.”
Princess finished drawing her best, albeit hurried, sketch of the weird masked humanoid creatures and showed it to everyone.
Don't judge her. It had been a long time since she last even picked up a pen.
“Uh… What is that, Princess?” Lucy finally asked a question, there was no doubt that questions were bouncing around Lucy’s brain like DvD screensavers.
“A ‘Hilichurl’.” Atlas and Brii spoke in unison, before Brii continued on her own. “They’re a kind of monster that appear in the trading card game Genius Invokation.”
“And what’s got you interested in the big GI, eh?” A grin appeared on Atlas’ face.
“I…” Princess tried to come up with a convincing lie, but she just couldn’t, so she told the truth as she should've. “Saw them in my dreams.”
Atlas laughed loudly, however, Brii raised an eyebrow.
“YOU’RE SERIOUS? LIKE? REALLY?” He let out the last few of his chuckles before returning to his standard, relatively calm state. “Why not dream about like… Hot guys or literally anything else? I know I’ll be dreaming about hot guys tonight.”
Brii turned to Atlas with a bit of a frown on her face. “I’m sleeping on the sofa tonight.” She spoke disappointedly, before walking off to somewhere in the Bakery backrooms.
“What? I get the bed to myself!? Sick! Thanks, sis- I mean, Brii! I should dream about hot guys more often!” Atlas turned his attention back to the customers-to-be. “Is that it? Or are you actually going to buy something?”
“We could buy some cookies while we’re here…” Lucy tapped her chin a couple times. “Whaddya think, Princess? My treat!”
“Sure, that sounds nice!”
And so, the two bought some courtesy chocolate-chip cookies from the Bakery and returned home.
While this didn’t really answer much… As all Princess learned was that those creatures were Hilichurls from some ‘Genius Invokation’ whosawhatsit. But Princess had gained something valuable!
Any Information at all that could provide context to the current ongoing situation that she was just beginning to get a grasp on!
If more creatures from that game were going to appear inside the LABYRINTH, then hopefully she could rely on Atlas and Brii's help.
Though, why were creatures from some game she’d never even heard of appearing in the dream?
Well, that probably wasn't so weird since they had appeared in TETIS, somehow.
Why was she even having this dream, anyway? Had she left something unresolved?
Had the Star come back for revenge? Or something else entirely…?
There was obviously only one way to find out…
And that was to delve…
Into the HEART of the LABYRINTH.
...Princess had forgotten to ask about LUMINE and ICARUS.
...Well, as long as they didn't appear, that wouldn't be an issue, right?