Chapter 89: The Goddess’ Infatuation
[Ding!]
The system bloomed in his vision a second later and he managed to turn to face it.
However, when he saw the notification, his eyes widened...
[The Reaper’s Mark is Intensifying.]
[The Sovereign has felt her possession tested and a fear endured that was not born of her presence. This displeases her, and pleases her, in equal measure. The player grows more valuable with every loop.]
[The Goddess’ infatuation with you grows.]
Lucas stared at the words through blood blurred vision, his own ragged breathing the only sound in the room, and felt something cold and settle into his chest alongside the pain that began to fade slowly but surely...
’My death.... Our bond grows with each death...’
The blood slowed gradually, and the burning sensation across his back began easing as Lucas managed to bring himself down on his bed.
He sat there for a long while shaking, his hands trembling as he wiped uselessly at the mess drying on his face.
’This isn’t going away. Whatever this bond actually is, it’s not going away, and it’s only getting worse the more I regress.’
He exhaled, looking toward the roof with tired eyes. He wanted to tell someone, anyone. But even giving them hints is enough to get him killed by the system.
[Player is not allowed to reveal Regression ability]
[Violation means death.]
He glanced lazily at the system warning that bloomed as if reading his mind...
’I really am alone in this huh...’
***
Eleanor’s group returned well past nightfall, and she came through the gates scanning the gathered crowd immediately as if searching for something...
She found Mark and the first question that left her mouth was:
"Where’s Lucas?"
"His room," Mark said, offering a welcoming smile. "He’s been in there a while. Probably resting we all got pretty beat up out there."
Eleanor hesitated, something urging her toward his door immediately, before exhaustion consideration won the better part of her.
***
The following day, Lucas moved through the fortress in a way that Eleanor noticed almost immediately. He gave short answers, maintained less eye contact and moved in ways that felt entirely unlike him even accounting for the type of person he was...
She found him near the training yard that evening, sitting alone and staring at nothing in particular.
"Hey," she said, settling down beside him. "You doing okay?"
Lucas, a bit startled, replied. "O—oh me?"
"Yes, you..." she said crossing her arms. "Are you okay?"
He stood up hastily moving back into the fortress. "Oh yeah, I’m I’m fine just tired is all..."
Eleanor raised her eyebrows. "You’ve been saying that word a lot lately."
He shrugged. "It’s been a tiring few days."
Saying that, he turned and hurried for the fortress. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to put some distance between them for now...
"Something happen out there didn’t it?"
The moment she said this, Lucas stopped dead in his tracks. He didn’t answer right away but the silence itself was the answer she needed.
"That’s what I thought," Eleanor said, with a smile.
Lucas clenched his jaw, the image of the Avallion tearing into him resurfacing. "Elle, I—"
"You don’t have to tell me." She said cutting him off, and the ease of it caught him off guard.
"I’m not going to pretend I’m not curious though. But I’ve learned by now that when you go quiet like this, pushing doesn’t get me anywhere. You’ll tell me if you can. If you can’t, I trust you to handle it, same as you always have."
"Just like that?" Lucas asked, surprised flickering across his face. "You’re not going to push?"
She shrugged. "Would it change anything if I did?"
[Player is not allowed to reveal Regression ability]
[Violation means death.]
He looked at the warning that sat there as if taunting him and the ancient entity that had apparently decided he belonged to her now.
"No," he admitted quietly his voice laced with something akin to exhaustion.
"Then I’ll just have to believe that you can handle it. Whatever it is, I believe you’re carrying it well"
Something in Lucas’ chest ached at that — though grateful that he didn’t have to feed her with more lies, he was also quietly disturbed by how easily she’d let it go.
It felt like relief and abandonment tangled together and he wasn’t entirely sure which feeling he trusted more.
Though he wanted them to ask less questions, he didn’t like the idea of the people he cared about, thinking he’s handling it fine when he actually isn’t...
"Get some sleep," she said, walking past him. "We got things to discuss in the morning..."
Lucas watched her go and heaved a sigh.
He might as well try to get some sleep. Overthinking wasn’t going to get him anywhere...
***
The war room filled the next morning, the worn map spread across the table, and Eleanor gestured for Mark to begin once the room had settled.
"River path had a Makara Golem," Mark said. "Bigger, than what I’ve seen so far. We won, but it cost Sera her sword, so we turned back before pushing toward the Gateway. It was still a way’s off and we figured going in with one of my people unarmed wasn’t worth the risk."
Eleanor nodded, then turned to Lucas.
He exhaled and began speaking...
"Stone path had an Avallion Golem," he said, keeping his voice level, carefully not to overstepp "It was fast and used hit-and-run tactics."
When Eleanor noticed the pause, she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did you kill it?"
Lucas shook his head. "Survival Probability was too low."
"You sure it wasn’t just your system glitching out again?"
"Positive. The rest of the group saw the same thing. For the system to give us that meant there was something off about it. We pulled back before things escalated."
It wasn’t the full truth. It wasn’t even close to the full truth but he made sure it hovered as close to it as possible. He made no the horde he already knew waited behind that single Avallion if they’d pushed even slightly further. But it was true enough, close enough that nobody in the room questioned it.
"I see," Eleanor said. "Same logic as my own team, actually. We found a Hestia Golem guarding the Gateway itself. We didn’t engage. We already fought two Bora Golems along the way, and it wasn’t moving, which told me it was probably some kind of stationary guardian rather than a wandering threat."
"So all three paths lead to something all the groups hadn’t gone far enough to see." Bertram said, arms crossed.
"Looks that way." Eleanor traced the map with one careful finger. "Which means we’re not sending small teams in again. Next time, we go together with an actual plan ."
She looked up, gaze moving across the faces in the hall before speaking again.
"Give me a few days," she said. "I’m going to figure something out by then..."