Chapter 283: The Detour
Chapter 283: The Detour
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I force my eyes open as the sun shines through the tent. I roll on my side, and I lay my arms across Sally. As I do, she takes it and wraps herself around my arm. We stayed up late last night talking. I’m still tired, and I wouldn’t mind sleeping in. We’ve been sticking to a tight schedule this trip. Spending the majority of the days flying. Since we’re so close to the border, there’s no reason not to take some time to get extra rest. I close my eyes again and think about something that I still need to learn more about—the Dice of Wayland.
I have them, and they’ve granted more power to The Witness. However, the original reason I got them was that the system said they’ll be important for the future. I don’t know the true purpose of having the dice. While it holds nearly endless information, it’s not possible to find all the items that it has information on. That would be counterproductive. So, why did the system send me on a quest to get the dice in the first place? They have to have some separate functions. Something that gives it a purpose. Cause right now. It’s not really doing anything.
All it’s doing is making The Witness slightly better. Perhaps I just have to wait. Sometimes that’s all we can really do. My thoughts drift to another subject. This time, it’s my divine item Fenrir’s Whistle. I’ve only used it once, and not much has happened with Fenrir as of late. He said that he was going to Overworld to speak with the rest of the gods. That day The Old Gods were announced to be returning. He told me he’s going to be busy for a while. The same day I got my Divine Mana Aura, mysteries that I can’t solve right now.
Events are playing out. Changes are occurring. I do blame myself for the current state of humanity, but sometimes. I deny it and say it’s other people’s responsibility. That’s my fear of responsibility talking. The amount of pressure on me is great. People think I’m a savor. They think I’m here to fight their battles and save their people. When I’m the original reason that all this is happening to Gaia. In my old future, there was no monster war. There were no Old Gods. Humanity wasn’t transported here, and the other half that didn’t make it died. None of that happened last time.
The common denominator is me and what I’ve done. If people learn about how I’ve messed with time. How I’ve changed the future. They’ll deem me the greatest threat to life on Gaia. It’s completely reasonable to say that too. In a sense, it’s true. I am a threat to all life on Gaia. Every single decision I make causes major shifts. All the things I’ve taken for myself have affected billions. I’ll have to accept responsibility for my actions one day, but another part of me says I’ll never do that. Cause it isn’t my fault, but it is. I’m full of contradictions, just like a normal person.
I’m pulled from my internal debating as I feel Sally squirm a bit. I open my eyes as she flutters hers open. She stares into mine and smiles. “My life has to be a dream… Waking up next to you every day…” I can’t help a tiny blush from spreading across my face. It’s small, but it’s there. She sees my reaction and moves her face closer. I catch on, and I move mine forward, and as I do, our lips meet, and we share a morning kiss. Not something we’ve done before. We move our lips in slow unison. She eventually closes her eyes to enjoy it more, and I follow suit.
After a few more seconds, we both pull away for some air. We open our eyes and look at each other. She brings her hand up and rubs it along my cheek and through my hair. The feeling of her fingernails gliding across my skin gives me goosebumps. “We should get up, shouldn’t we…” We both know that the moment couldn’t last forever, but we’re glad that it did happen. I smile at her and nod. I lean up and roll my neck around. It pops in multiple places, and I release a sigh. “I’m starving!” I chuckle as Sally is more energetic than normal after waking up.
Despite the fact we stayed up pretty late. We exit the tent, and we sit by the long extinguished campfire. I pull some food and clean water out of my inventory and give some to her. I take my portion and start to dig in. The reality of the situation is starting to set in. I can see it on Sally’s face. She’s never been to the elven kingdom and has never met her family before. They shouldn’t even be called that. We eat in silence and watch the slowly rising sun over the field. Warming everything up as its light touches all that it can reach.
There’s something humbling and mesmerizing about a rising sun. It’s a sign that you’ve made it another day, and you still have a long way to go before that final sunrise. We finish eating our food, and I quickly pack up the tent. I turn towards her as I toggle my wings on, and I kneel so she can get on. She climbs on and gets comfortable. “This is one of my favorite things to do.” She whispers into my ear as I flex my wings and fly fast towards the clouds after launching off the ground. The next stop is the southern border into the elven kingdom.
While Cera and Sally finish the last stretch of their trip to the southern border, Hailey and Jasmine are walking themselves to their new destination. There is a problem that Hailey is facing, though. She doesn’t know how to broach the subject of her little brother being the angel everyone adores. She knows Jasmine is a devoted follower of the church of light, but she isn’t sure how she will react around Cera. To everyone not from earth, Cera is something many would consider a God. He’s anything but that, and Hailey is sure that Cera thinks the same thing.
We walk along the path, and I’m deep in my thoughts. Jasmine doesn’t know that Slayer Zern is Cera, and Cera is my brother. Many things are being spoken about in terms of my brother. One of them being he’s a merciful and kind person. He can be, but if everyone saw how brutal he is. They’d have second thoughts. I do not want this to affect Jasmine negatively. However, I have bigger concerns to think about—the dungeon we’re taking on before we’re getting to the southern border. There have been new developments regarding that.
I intend to have Jasmine receive the Legacy class in the dungeon. The only problem is there are millions of other players also trying to clear the dungeon. It’s an incredibly hard one, but I’m worried a guild will come along and take it before we can even get there. The dungeon is large enough to allow an entire guild to challenge it. If you want to solo it, you can. But no one’s ever completed something like that before. I have yet to try, and I highly doubt Cera has given a dungeon like that a go.
I look over at Jasmine, and I can visibly see how much happier she is now. I didn’t know how large of an effect killing the James family would have. She’s so much brighter now. “There’s something we need to discuss.” I get straight to the point, and Jasmine looks at me from the side as we walk. “We discussed you getting a legacy class, and I know where one is. The only problem is there are going to be lots of people going after it too. So there’s a chance we might not even get a chance at it.” She looks forward again and nods calmly.
Jasmine is strong right now, but all she has is a Rare class. She could be so much more if we got her something better. “That’s fine, Hailey. In total honesty, it’s not like us getting that class for me is ride or die. I still want to give it a shot, but if it’s already gone. Then I’m okay with that too. In town, I heard whispers of a world boss near the border of Kreshina. Maybe that’ll have something if the dungeon doesn’t.” I smile and place my hand on top of Jasmine’s head as we walk. She’s great at finding things out. Who knows, we might hit that world boss. I don’t mind letting my brother wait.