(8.1) One after Another

"So, that's how it is." Phoebe says sagely. She sits cross-legged by the flame orb Mirra pulled out for a campfire. Everyone's gear is laid out in front of her so that she could take stock of what they do and don't have.

"Carnia Love… I'm surprised I never heard of an RPG dating sim like that." Mirra remarks. She pockets the broken spyglass she had been using to look at New Pinacca on the other side of the river. "Then again, I noticed there's a lot of dissonance in our stories. Right Phoebe?"

"I'm not sure. I was a pro-gamer but outside of Esports, I was kind of a shut-in, remember?" Phoebe leans back on her hands and yawns, any thought of danger well out of her mind. "You and Caor would know more about RPGs. Maybe Dent?"

For the six hours they had camped, no Dead had approached them, just as Winter had estimated. Neither had Mirra spotted any Dead approaching New Pinacca from the other side of the river.

In the meantime, and after explaining that having more than double one's mana could cause a mana overload, sickness and even death, Aki burned through her excess to heal everyone while they chatted about their Otherworlder background. Aki does not join. Something in the back of her mind tells her not to reveal that. Not again.

Looking at the four of them from her spot by the waterfront, if not for the dirt and grime that covered each, no one would be able to tell they had spent the past several hours fighting Dead.

Aki sighs. While the four of them had their HP quickly restored thanks to the extra MP put into each spell, only high level medical magic could restore a person's Life Essence, labelled LE in Soul Sight, without consequence.

Even so, there is a way for anyone to restore another's LE. The caster needs simply to willingly sacrifice their own essence to the target. Aki didn't think twice on doing so since, without enough LE, even a solid smack to the head could end a person's life, regardless of HP.

Phoebe and Mirra are adults, or at least in adult bodies, and Aki wasn't about to risk them playing tough when they might have been at death's door like Winter had been.

None of them noticed her actions, nor did she say anything. It was not important to disclose, Aki had told herself, so she did not.

She rubs her wrists as she looks down at the calm river water, only half paying attention to the others.

Aki recalls the friend and teacher that aided her learning of support and medical magic when she first came to Tsarjar. She sees the wilted leaves and dried brown skin. The many bruises that would often cover her friend's body because of an aggressive temperament. Her face was severe and beautiful, wilted as it was. A tough woman but her golden eyes always had a gentle warmth to them.

"I'm sorry Ras… I can already hear you, Rayla, and Shur scolding me." Aki mumbles. She sighs again and opens her complete status.

Her eyes glow faintly as Soul Sight activates.

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Aki  Title: Witch

LE: 1/55  HP: 200

MP: 560/300

SP: 70/50

[Adjusted to Darkness: 10% increase in vision when in dim light or pure dark]

[Entrusted One: Temporary MP overtakes max. Will not recover excess MP]

[Death's Door: All stats reduced until LE restored. All defences -200%]

[Final Journey: +10 to physical stats. +100% magic potency. -80% MP cost]

More: ⟲

Race: Otherworlder, [Nalv]  Affiliation: None

Title: Nudist, [Witch], {¬¬¬¬¬''¬¬'¬¬¬¬''¬¬¬¬¬¬'¬¬}

Gifts: Reactive Adaptation, Precognition, Empath

Strength : 20 (10)/50 (100)  Toughness : 44(34)/50(100)

Agility : 59 (49)/50 (100)  Speed : 48 (38)/50 (100)

Perception : 50 (55)/50 (100)  Vitality : 5/50 (100)

Intelligence : 121

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Winter dusts himself off, a futile action he'd been repeating often during their short rest. His expression is rather serious, as serious as it can look at present, so Aki turns her attention to the boy.

"Our own world recollections is what I think Mirra means." Winter answers. Now that he isn't making poor attempts to act like a small child, he seems much more comfortable. "The Milky Way. Earth. A pandemic. Computers, the internet, phones, even VR are things we have in common."

"But you said the VRMMO, New Lands Online, ran on a Full Dive software that was invented in early 2021 and perfected in 2025." Winter adds. "It was late Autumn of 2021 for me before I came here. That tech didn't exist for me."

Vague ideas, imperceptible sounds, and blurred shapes sear Aki's memory. She squeezes her wrist and retreats to the campfire, staving off the pain the flood of otherworld information is subjecting her to.

"Otherworlders are otherworlders, so wouldn't that make sense? Not like we have any clue who, when, where, or why people are taken." Aki bites her lip. Frankly speaking, a lot of what they said was painfully familiar but certain points in their tales were so alien in concept it pacified the information onslaught to a certain degree.

Mirra shoots her a glance, a look of confusion on her face.

"Winter said he's from Earth. So are we? There can't be two places with the same name and history, can there?"

"Putting aside the VR and 16 year difference," Mirra places a finger on the bridge of her nose, distressed. She paces the perimeter of the camp, addressing her allies but never taking her eyes off her surroundings. "You remember, Phoebe? News articles called it the lovechild of the black plague and tuberculosis."

Phoebe shudders and nods. Aki gently pats her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her and, by extension, herself. Vague ideas and suffering faces far too blurry to make out flash through Aki's mind.

"The pandemic I remember started the same way and the same time but was nowhere near as deadly as that… but it still killed a lot of people." Winter contrasts. He leans back on his shoulders and shakes his head. "If it was an issue of timeline, I'd be worried about home. But the technology differences… maybe Aki's right?"

"...Parallel Earths. The same but also different." Mirra says aloud. She tenses, eyes searching the distance. "We already got transported into the world of our game, Phoebe. If it's actually all completely real, who knows how many other places have our circumstances?"

Phoebe nods slowly. "Guess it's not one of those if you die in the game, you die in real life  scenarios, huh? This really is all real."

She turns to Aki suddenly, eyes tearful. "S-so you're really-! I'm so sorry, I've been... Your arm, those soldiers, all the people that've died… it's not - I mean, it's!"

Phoebe's words are drowned out amid shaking sobs as she buries herself in Aki's cloaked shoulder.

"I- then we've- I've k…k… people are dead! I- my magic!" Phoebe's words are muddled by her tears, her voice muffled from being buried in Aki's cloak but what she's trying to say is clear enough for those present.

Mirra and Winter's expression darken, a subdued look of sympathy in their eyes when looking at their crying companion.

Aki gingerly hugs her close, patting Phoebe's head and quieting her tearful apologies. Having Phoebe feeling so strongly and so close to her was overwhelming.

Of course now would be when the Empath gift would react.

She considers telling Phoebe that she is also an otherworlder but, somehow revealing that now felt far too awkward of a task.

"I was reincarnated into this world…" Winter says slowly. His face turned toward the forest, a thousand yard stare present in his dark eyes. "Some part of me was just reluctant to accept it I guess."

Mirra is about to say something when loud splashing draws their attention. Just barely visible on some nearby rocks, a silhouette of something moving shifts on top of the rocks. The magic firelight isn't strong enough to discern the things features at this distance.

It groans loudly, almost human-like, and the bulbous circle that Aki now realises is its head turns to the party. It groans again before leaping closer.

Now close enough to be illuminated, the four of them see its a bloated corpse. Water drips from its waterlogged body. Its eyes are milky white and its skin is a sickly blue. Torn, simple clothes hang heavy from its bloated frame.

Aki curses silently. Who could ever forget facing a Drowned. Tough, resistant to most common forms of attacks, more powerful than the average Dead, and capable of sucking the moisture out of a person.

Phoebe screams in terror. A second Drowned had appeared further up the river, flanking their position.

"Thought you said Dead can't stand running water!" Mirra jumps back into a more defensive position closer to fire.

"I've never seen anything like it! They never showed up in my game!" Winter hops over the laid out gear, picking up one of Phoebe's spare wands and standing back-to-back with Mirra.

"Aki!?" The two shout in unison.

Phoebe holds onto Aki tightly, shaking in fear. Not that Aki couldn't sympathise. She knows exactly how Phoebe feels thanks to her gift. A reality-shattering realisation coupled with hideous Dead like these is easily a lot to bear. Even so, Aki pushes her away.

"Drowned! Don't let them touch you and don't use liquid-based attacks!"

The first and closest of the two lunges at the party. Phoebe screams again and pulls Aki into a protective hold.

Barely able to squeeze out, Aki slams her amulet into the ground. Glowing chains forcefully strike the Drowned but fail to capture it.

"I got it!" Winter slashes the decorated, knifelike wand in a horizontal arc. Shadows condense into a blade and hit the Drowned square on the leg. Unfortunately it isn't enough, merely killing its current momentum.

"C'mon!" Mirra roars from behind them. She's locked the Drowned in close combat, forcing it on the defensive from her onslaught of armoured kicks and punches. "Fight like a man!"

The Drowned pauses, as if it has sentience beyond hunger and looks at Mirra as if offended. It groans and roars, spilling a lot of water from its mouth as it bares its tusks at her.

Mirra takes advantage of the pause and clocks the Drowned clean on the jaw.

"Is it racist to tell an Ork that?" Laughs Winter. His tone is strained and nervous. Still, he attempts a confident front. "Or is it fine cause it's a living Dead?"

He falls backward, pulled by Aki to avoid the lunging Drowned they were fighting.

"Pay attention now, jokes later!" Aki reprimands. "And let go, Phoebe. We all wanna live, right?"

She's managed to free herself from Phoebe, though not entirely. Phoebe still grips Aki's cloak in one hand and holds her broken staff in the other.

Aki bombards the Drowned with a series of witchbolts. Paired with the shadow magic Winter slings, they succeed in staggering and injuring the Drowned.

"I- I can't." Phoebe says meekly. She can barely look at the Drowned, too nauseated by its appearance. "I can handle games but this…"

She stumbles back and turns to puke.

The sound of vomit splashing on the dirt draws the attention of both the Drowned. Immediately they turn from their respective fights and rush toward the hunched over Phoebe.

"NO!"

Aki isn't sure which of the three of them shouted. Mirra? Winter? Herself? All of them?

Phoebe screams in pain and fear.

The earth around Phoebe erupts outward, creating jagged spikes. In her hands, the broken staff explodes, splinters of wood spraying upward from the force of the spell. The Drowned impale themselves on the stones.

The stones aren't enough to stop them completely. The exploding staff made Phoebe throw her arms out and one of the two Drowned was close enough to bite into her hand. It tears a chunk of flesh and a tonne of moisture in the brief moment.

Phoebe cries, tearing herself free and falling away from the two Drowned.