Beyond The System

Chapter 292: Lifespan

Serith didn’t argue or explain her own situation. She rushed over to Elric’s side, knees in the dirt, hands hovering over him without touching yet. Her eyes flicked across his face, lips, and the strange pale pallor. Then she snapped her head up.

“Is it the same as before? When he healed you?”

I nodded.

“Nova,” she called.

Really, I was grateful that she didn’t make any sort of excuse even considering the way she looked.

Serith was bruised in places. Her luminous skin was dull, and one of her usual dresses was torn along the hip and shoulder, threads hanging loose. There was grit on her forearm, and a smear of flowing red near her elbow.

“I’ll begin a scan,” Nova said.

Her display showed two vertical slits that were clearly meant to be eyes, set on the smooth oval of her body, slightly different from the last time I saw her.  More… streamline. Her hand, slotted in her side, lifted from a groove and floated before her, extending towards Elric—fingers extending from that in smooth, triangular shapes.

A neon-blue light extended from each finger, passing inch by inch on his body.

“Thank you,” I said, and Sia echoed me just after.

Behind us, the others had turned into a single stunned organism.

Some stood with mouths open, staring at the place the tear in space had been as if expecting it to rip again. Others muttered under their breath, eyes flicking between Serith and Nova, most sticking to the latter. A few were so shocked they swayed where they stood until comrades grabbed their shoulders and held them upright.

Serith glanced over them once, a fast, assessing sweep then her gaze locked onto me.

“How’s it going on this end?”

My fingers ran through my hair with a hand that still felt sticky. I couldn’t stop the tremble in my fingers. “How’s it look?” I responded, swallowing a breath. “...How about with you?”

Serith’s mouth pulled into a similar expression. A grimace aimed at herself, I guessed. “You ever seen me thrown out of a portal like that,” she said, “running?”

My breath was released slowly, and for half a second, the tension was gone. But it didn’t last. It couldn’t, with Elric lying there like a husk.

“So…” My voice came out quieter. “Similar situation?”

Serith nodded, gaze dropping to Elric again. Her voice lowered, too, like the air itself might be listening. “Seems so.”

Nova stopped scanning and turned to Serith.

“: < His Internal Energy is leaking out… It’s slowing down over time, but not quickly enough.”

Serith’s expression tightened. “Just like before, then.”

She crouched beside Elric and finally placed a hand on him, but only after a few seconds of darkness gathered at her palm, she pulled away.

Sia watched her with wide, waiting eyes. “Can… you’re able to help, right?”

Serith didn’t answer Sia at first. Her gaze stayed on Elric’s face. Then she asked, “Where is the other girl? She can help. That special ability of hers worked before.”

Sia shook her head immediately, flinching away from the thought. “With how she is right now… it could be dangerous.”

I looked to her. “Did Lyra ever explain how that works?”

Sia’s hands tightened in her lap. She swallowed. “It’s… I don’t know. A connection between them. I just know it isn’t good for either of them. It won’t be good for the baby.”

I squeezed my eyes shut harder, trying to think of something. But only frustration rose. That old statue, had it played some cruel joke on the two of them? It had said they were suited for each other, but was it just a whim?

To force one to swap energy for the other.

But Lyra hadn’t looked like Elric after helping him. But, I couldn’t be sure what it did inside, if Sia had been scared enough to want to keep her from trying even in this situation.

I opened my eyes and forced the panic down into something usable.

“Serith,” I said, “could Sei help?”

Serith paused for a heartbeat, but in that moment I saw that she understood what I meant. She turned sharply to Nova.

“Nova. Can you determine the form of energy with your database?”

Nova’s screen flashed with blue pixels blooming, breaking, and recombining in fast, swimming patterns across her display. The flicker slowed then stilled.

“Energy pattern is similar in resonance to Animora… but not identical,” she said, clearly understanding my implication.

“Where’s Sei?” I asked. “Or Mei? Amei? Any of them?”

Life was my only real clue. If it wasn’t something they could explain to Sia at the time, then it might’ve been something they hadn’t understood themselves. Animora was my next guess.

But instead of answering, Serith looked out across the battlefield, then over to the crowd gathered near us. “That wouldn’t help. If he were awake, it’d be one thing, but as he is now?”

I let out a rough breath, irritation tightening my jaw. “Then what do I do? You have to know something. Please.”

Before Serith could respond, Nova spoke in a level voice. “Let me take him.”

“That’ll help?” Sia asked at once.

“I can examine him. And I can stop the leakage. As for recovering…” Nova didn’t finish, leaving the rest unsaid.

So I looked to Serith, needing more than Nova’s blunt promise.

“Nova is a monstrous collection of information,” Serith said. “Even if she can’t fix it immediately, she’ll figure out what’s happening.” Then she added, “And Hurua can work with her.”

Nova formed a simple, clean, and bright image of a heart, expanding and shrinking in a steady rhythm.

“How long?” I asked. Not because I was hesitating, but because I needed an answer.

“I’m not sure,” Serith said, straightforward. “But there’s something else I came here to talk about. Then we’ll be leaving.” She turned to Sia. “He won’t die. I can promise that.”

“H—how can you be sure?” Sia asked, the words catching as she said them.

“I’m good at my job,” Nova replied, flat-voiced, pride somehow leaking in despite the tone.

“And,” Serith continued, “it may have something to do with what I want to say. You wanted everything I could give, so I’ll give it.”

I waited, relief already loosening something in my chest. If he was going to live, then we could handle the rest. I’d get stronger. We’d learn more together. And when the time came to use whatever ability was necessary, it wouldn’t be a gamble.

“Let’s move,” Serith said.

I nodded and turned to the crowd behind me. “I’ll be back soon.”

A portal wrapped around the five of us, and in the next moment… wood. A room. A window.

My eyes drifted to it. Outside, a crowd stood close enough to see their faces clearly. After a few seconds, they noticed us. And then, one after another, they stared straight back.

“Private enough here,” Serith said.

I didn’t agree, really, too worked up to feel embarrassed. And my energy was too drained to raise a Sensory Veil, but if she was confident, I didn’t waste time arguing.

“So?” I asked, pushing the word out. I wanted Elric stabilized first. If we were lucky, once the leakage stopped, recovery might even start.

“You know of the layers? The one’s that surround this world?” Serith began.

I nodded, more surprised that she did. “Yeah. More or less. There’s a white void connected to a universe, then a barrier after that,” I explained my best understanding of what I thought she meant.

Serith tilted her head. “A white—what? No. I mean the layer that separates our plane from the Great Ancestor. The highest plane of existence.”

I matched her look. “I don’t know about ‘highest’ or whatever, but… if the white space, followed by the universe after it, is the first layer, then he’s the second. And we’re the third.”

“RECORDING!” Nova said loudly.

A loud beeping burst out, sharp enough that I had to clamp my hands over my ears. Nova vibrated in place, then shot toward me. “MORE! PETER, MORE! >:]”

Serith shoved her aside.

I stared at them, and a tired, irritated thought surfaced despite everything: was I the only one surrounded by people like this?

“Whatever. I don’t care,” Serith said.

Nova answered with a sound like an engine idling. Annoyance, I guessed.

“The point is, I’ve—” Serith started.

“We’ve,” Nova corrected.

“We’ve discovered why the rest want to rise,” Serith finished.

“I figured it’s just a promise of power,” I said, trying to push her along.

Serith shook her head, halted, then gave a slow nod. “Yes and no. There’s… a problem. With me.”

“With me,” Nova added.

“With Amei, Sei, and all the rest of Stewards. Those above too,” Serith said. “We’re using everything up.”

“Meaning?” I pressed.

Serith cleared her throat. “Meaning the rest are trying to appeal to rise. They do that, and they can last longer,” she said, like that alone should settle it. “There’s a force at work, something beyond what we… what I… understood.”

My thoughts snapped to Janus. To that void, where faint sparks of life still lingered. Intent. Intent, right before it thinned and slipped into nothing.

Serith kept going. “If they rise, power isn’t guaranteed, but the path exists. And now that I know…” She paused, then exhaled through her nose. “It’s easy to see why they chose him. Even I… if it wasn’t for my path, I would’ve likely accepted too.”

“What is it?” I asked when she finished.

“They all want to keep going. Lifespan,” Nova cut in. “We’ve taken the lifespan allotted to this plane. You can’t live the way we have. Not to the length we have.”