Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 100 : And Speak Of Sorrows

I don’t know. I don’t want to be on the other side. I guess? Maybe, what the fuck do I even say here that won’t piss her off or get me booted off entirely?

“I just think we should all take a long step back and you know, figure out what to do here. Clearly, Marian is also out there, and if I’m right, she probably was awake as much as you were and could have built an army too. She probably would think to get to me, to be honest. The track record isn’t looking to good.”

Taking a deep breath, I stood up. “I just want to go home. I don’t really want to be caught up in any-”

“Oh fuck off with that.” Jane stood up, and I took a step back before standing my ground.

“Peter, you’re not just some random nobody anymore. You’ve been given a great power, like yours truly, and now we’re gonna have to use it for the greater good of the world.” She walked up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Marian is a crazy and delusional bitch. There’s nothing redeeming about her at all. And what of the others? They don’t matter at all! Well… they do matter, just that… We’re not responsible for their woes or worries, I just want to go back to Ephitet and finally put things right.”

“You want revenge-”

“Not… Revenge.” She looked out the window that appeared in front of her, and I saw through it the city in Phorash that we had left so long ago. “I want to do what’s right, it’s about justice, freedom, and the power to finally build a better world. One where Magick can’t be copyrighted… Do you know how insane that is? Just think of that.” She pointed out the window towards a familiar massive tower in the distance.

“They’re literally copyrighting the power to change the world! They’re bottling the ability to heal people and selling them to the highest bidder! You saw the Health Potions, you know how much they cost back in Phorash? You’re better off just letting your body heal naturally than going to a hospital.”

She then pointed at the sky. “Literal sky domes to help with manipulating the atmosphere, cultivating the weather itself! And yet for some reason, we can’t even find jobs. I know you know how hard it was. That’s the reason why you even took this job in the first place.”

Jane gripped the windowsill as the flames around her body began to eat up the air around us. “I watched day in and day out as people sold away everything they had just to get a Name for their job… Just to get on by, Ephitet hoarded it all for themselves and they want more!”

Once more, she turned to me, fire in her eyes. “Pete… Ephitet is planning to expand.”

“I know. Everyone knows. That’s what they’ve been planning and wanting to do for a while now. It’s probably why they’re trying to get into Galfania.”

“Yes, but don’t you see what that means! They’re trying to get the Magick of the other nations as well. They’re trying to add it to their monopoly; if they succeed, then nowhere would be safe at all. Ephitet wants to find a way to have each and every Name under their belt for themselves, while the rest have to work themselves to death even to get a scrap of what they have…”

I had my doubts about that. A lot of doubt, actually.

“Ephitet won’t succeed for a long time. The other nations would never ever give up their secrets so easily to foreign agents. And even if they did, they wouldn’t reveal everything. We have quite some time before it really would become some kind of Arcanopunk future.”

That was the wrong answer because Jane groaned. “That’s not the point! Ephitet is growing fast, strong, and too much. It basically owns Phorash now, so that gives it an incredible asset. Even though this mission failed, it wouldn’t matter in the slightest. They’re gonna go along their day writing off a thousand deaths, including their own people, as just a few extra numbers on a ledger somewhere.”

Yeah, she was right. To them, they were just some kind of failed mission. Or maybe even less than that. A few missing ships. We’d likely become a joke in the community. Oh, look at that, mega corp sent people to the ultra super dangerous place, and they all died and disappeared. What a bunch of dunces!

People would have probably thought we deserved to do, or well, not us, just the Epithet agents. We’d serve as another warning of what not to do, of what it’s like to be idiots.

I sighed and joined her, looking outside. I even saw my old apartment building, just standing there in the sea of grey.

“How much more? How many more die because they can’t be treated? Because they don’t have a home? Because they can’t afford Magick and keep up? How much until they, too, become another number in a ledger? How long do you think it would take? A decade? A year? A few months or weeks? Do you think they have the time? Don’t you think we should do something? Anything?”

It was almost like she was begging me, pleading with me. 

“I-I do think we should do something. But I mean, can we do anything at all? I mean, our powers aren’t really fit for saving the world. Your Magick is literally a delete button, and well… I guess I can mind control- But that feels wrong.”

“We’re not gonna save the world, Peter. We’re going to fix it. And to do that…”

She gave me a familiar look as she and I both knew what she was talking about. Well, she does know I looked into her memories, so there’s that at least.

“Listen… I-I think I hold the not supposed to be controversial opinion that killing other people is bad.”

Maybe a bit hypocritical because of Koschei, but that was mainly Andrei manning the helm and not me.

“Killing people who don’t deserve it is bad. We’re making sure to destroy those who do! Those who put others down and help a system that ensures they stay on top while others get crushed and steamrolled!”

“You know what they say. Killing a killer doesn’t reduce the number of killers in the world.”

“Hah, not unless you kill a lot of them. This isn’t some serial killer fantasy. This is literally justice. Come on, Peter, I was given the power from someone called the Harbinger of Freedom

! You might as well read in between the lines. I was meant for this, we were meant for this.”I sighed and gently pushed her hand down. “I-I know, but let’s not be rash here. Epithet is a big organization, with thousands to hundreds of thousands. There might be a few million of them all over the planet working for something. There’s gonna be directors running around with their own way of running the business; some firms are just loosely connected, and some were just adopted into it. How will you know what to burn down and what not to? How do you know who’s innocent from the ones that are guilty?”

This time, it was me who placed my hands on her shoulders. “Listen, what if you hurt someone like Charlie? What if you burn away someone who just couldn’t say no? Like me? There’s so much more than this, we… We have to think about this clearly.”

I finally got through to her when I said Charlie’s Name. Well, after seeing them together like that, I had to say something. 

“Also it’s cute that you guys are together. I’m glad that it happened, but we have to think about this whole situation more clearly.”

She sighed and shrugged off my hands. “Ugh. I hate all the moving parts of this. First, it was that Epithet controls so much so that if we destroy it, then the masses would go crazy, and now this! Gods, I hate nuance.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “You know how ridiculous that sounds?”

“Yes! Do you know how ridiculous not making Magick for everyone sounds?”

“Well, not everyone can handle Magick either way. People could literally become all vegetalized and comatose from even a single Name. I don’t think they could even do any Fated Magick. That's nearly impossible.”

Jane went silent for a bit, which blew some alarms for me as my eyes widened in fear. “Uh… Do you have something to share with the rest of the class?”

“…There was a project, two years ago. Right before I got captured, it was all about trying to manifest the gods or something. Mantle, or however they call it. Basically, they wanted to summon powerful beings so that they could control them and gain access to their powers.”

“Huh?! What? Project Apocrypha is real?!”

It was a popular conspiracy theory that the government was secretly run by the gods to try to control the world. It was up there with Lunamosity, which said that we didn’t land on the moon either.

“Well, no. They failed, actually I learned that they failed on the date we were captured, so they were pretty pissed off and took it out on us. But the point is that they were looking into it, they were trying it.”

I laughed and snickered like I was a middle school child. “And they sucked. Nobody knows how to do that kind of Magick at all. It’s nearly impossible to achieve it yourself. You only got it cause… Well yeah you’re the main character at all that.”

Jane nodded approvingly and crossed her arms. “Yeah you better believe it. But I mean, you’re cool too. I think you got the more powerful… Power- Magick, whatever. But still, it is achievable and can you imagine what they would do if they could?”

“Yeah… And I guess one of them will be able to achieve it soon.”

“Woah? Who’s this one of them?” Jane got up real close, her expression now all tight and worried.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure Marian is gonna find a way to get on your level soon enough.”

Her eyes widened as she groaned, rubbing her head. “Ugh that bitch, why would you think she’s ever gonna make it that far?”

I narrowed my eyes with a look of suspicion. “Because you did, and if you’re the main character, then she’s obviously you know, the antagonist. What you think she won’t be at that level? Especially since she’s also blessed by some weird divine spirit?”

“…” 

We both stared at each other until Jane finally sighed and slumped down. “Yeah I can see it, so we have to take her out first then, but where is she…”

“Well…” I started as I saw her eyes following mine.

“We could use the same method that I used to track you down. Since we’re already connected thanks to the Smorodina incident, I can go and sift through her memories. Maybe you’ll be able to see them too.”

Jane lit up, standing to her feet as she shook my shoulders. “Why didn’t you open with that! Come on then, go and do your thing. I want to make sure she dies first.”

I took a deep breath to once more calm myself down. “Alright… Let me focus.” Inside, I didn’t really want Marian to die; I wanted to make sure she was safe.

Jane sat down as I closed my eyes. If it was just like her, then all I had to do was remember.

Remember the hospital bed. 

Remember the agony.

Remember the grief.

Remember the regret.

I remembered what they took from her. I remembered how she had to move on but couldn’t. I remembered how, after all this time, she wanted to save the one she loved and fight in his Name.

Maybe it was wrong, but maybe, just maybe, I can ask her to see reason. I can ask her to stand down and not murder Jane.

Just maybe.

I held my breath, and everything went dark.