Every scene, every line, unfolded exactly as it had in the original game. Or so Nyx thought, watching the spectacle before her eyes. Yet unease coiled in her chest. Instinct whispered that, though everything seemed the same, something had shifted. The world's timeline was already distorted, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the feeling.
'Well... not like I can do anything about it,' Nyx thought as she watched the scene play out. One of the game's heroines, Vireon Loxleigh, an eccentric so extreme that she had just declared what could only be called heresy, only to pass it off as a joke, which earned a quiet inward laugh from Nyx.
'What a troll.'
That seemed to be the end of her eccentricity. She had managed to point out her point. To silence everyone. As Vireon finally spoke a speech that was something normal, for once.
Though, there were still weird things sprinkled alongside it. Still, it was even debatable to Nyx why Vireon was actually caring about such matters... Even in the original game.
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While the speech ran on, Nyx's gaze wandered across the space they currently resided in.
They were enclosed, but they could hear the voices through some kind of magic. Nyx took note of those present, but she didn't have much expectation in the first place. Truthfully, barely any of the S-rank students had even bothered to come. They were exempt from penalties for skipping events like this, provided they maintained their performance at the expected level. That privilege granted them freedom no other students possessed.
For the rest, however, absence meant deductions or worse, punishments with far more severe consequences.
Regardless, some familiar faces appeared.
Aside from the three of them—Faye, Cael, and herself—there was Ronan, the only S-rank commoner, at least in the combat department. Though his eyes kept darting around so much that he looked like he was spiraling... Probably not expecting to be placed in the S ranks.
There was also the exchange student from the Blue Magic Tower, Sapharion Duskbane. He looked at the scene with a unique expression, baffled but at the same time intrigued.
Then there was Cael's fiancée, Erica Valebryn, who was for some reason looking at them awkwardly from the far corner of the room.
Then, a familiar individual, a girl with grass-colored hair, the anomaly, Tressa, who had just entered and seemed to be walking toward a very eerily close location. Actually, it seemed like she was heading directly towards her location.
Nyx gulped. Not because of the incoming girl, but because at the door's location, Nyx's gaze met with the person she'd been trying to avoid all this time. She briefly looked away, but...
'Damn, our eyes definitely met! There's no way they didn't... Ugh...'
It was a girl with eyes that seemed to hold the ocean within them. The girl who had lost badly to Nyx. And more importantly, that line she had delivered...
" 'This is a lesson from me.' "
Nyx cringed inwardly as she recalled the scene.
'Lesson from me, my ass!' She squirmed, and the fact that she was wearing this skirt made her feel even more uncomfortable. It covered everything, but she just felt uneasy. Actually, someone had explained that the reason for the knee-length skirts was due to temperature and mobility concerns.
Nyx could only scoff. 'What mobility?' Regardless, she couldn't dispute it. It was the custom, and she couldn't do anything about that, especially since the game was originally designed that way.
More importantly, the girl was glaring daggers at her the entire time. Nyx sighed. She couldn't do anything about it, after all. That's when...
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Her gaze turned distant. Darkness swirled within her eyes.
She gazed downward, tilting her head, hiding her expression. The floor, made of polished stone. Blank and empty. One thing that never changed, no matter where she existed.
From time to time, she felt this way. A sense of distance from everything around her. An emptiness so vast that it couldn't be filled, stretching endlessly through her chest like a hollow canyon echoing with nothing.
Everything that had happened so far, her mind registered it all, even with the absurdities that came along with it. But at the same time, she didn't. What she had experienced, what she had lived through in the past, felt like memories borrowed from someone else.
She had nothing anchoring her to either world. Parents who may never have existed. Siblings who may never have existed. Even friends felt like distant echoes of something she'd never truly possessed.
That's why, for reasons that weren't really unknown—subconsciously she knew, but it only now crystallized into painful clarity—she had found herself existing alongside these individuals, in this place, in this life.
Yet she didn't feel like she belonged here. Not on Earth, where she'd been drifting through days. Not here either, where she wore someone else's face and carried someone else's name.
A second chance...
The emptiness pressed against her from within, cold and persistent. She existed, but felt a sense of disconnection from time to time. No, most of the time. From everything around her.
She felt a void deep inside her, alongside a creeping guilt that found itself within.
But before she could go even further...
Rustle, rustle, rustle
A hand settled on her head, fingers threading through her hair with gentle care. The hand was rather broad; it engulfed the entirety of her head. She swayed slowly from side to side, not because of the force, but mostly because she didn't have the strength to resist its already gentle touch.
She felt a small comfort. So small, but it was enough to make her feel something.
Clarity.
Clarity slowly came back to her obsidian pupils. She tilted her head, gazing at the person who was patting her head.
It was Cael.
"...Thank you," Nyx said with an awkward tone, her eyes holding a faint glimmer. The hollowness she felt and the small comfort now turned into a deeper sense of peace. After all, even when she said those words, the hand that patted her head didn't stop its movements.
Cael spoke.
"...Is it because of that girl's stare?" Cael said gently, his voice holding no malicious intent toward the person in question... But if it was...
"No, it's not that. I'm just not feeling great. I'm not used to these kinds of environments... That's all. No need to worry about it. Still, I appreciate the concern."
As such, the silence resumed...
But when someone arrived, it continued no more. A voice came from behind them.
"Umm, may I sit next to you, Sister Nyx?"
A monotone voice that somehow managed to bring excitement within it.
It was Tressa.
Strangely enough, Nyx felt that she had taken a long time to arrive... but that seemed to be answered when Nyx looked to see Tressa. A girl was behind her.
It was unmistakably the girl who had most likely been the cause of her mood change. The one who had been glaring daggers at her.
Lirien Auzriell.
Nyx could only look at the display awkwardly.
After a moment’s hesitation, Nyx replied.
"Yes, please go ahead."
Regardless, a thought persisted in Nyx’s mind:
‘Since when did these two become friends…?’ She could hardly believe it. After all, they had seated themselves beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world—Tressa next to her, and Lirien beside Tressa.
Regardless, this was a completely unprecedented situation.
‘These two definitely weren't friends in the game…’ Nyx thought as she sighed inwardly. ‘Truly, what has happened while I was asleep…?’
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Actually, when Nyx collapsed, at least according to what was told to her, she had successfully received a 'stigmata.' They had checked on it themselves but found no anomaly within it. Collapsing while receiving a stigmata is usually unheard of, but it isn't impossible. After all, Nyx herself had said she felt discomfort, but it was Theron's own judgment that led him to believe the situation wasn't worse than he thought.
Thus, he took responsibility for his actions. But before he could... out of nowhere, Cael appeared. In an instant. In front of the door of his humble abode. His laboratory. It was as if he knew that the girl within had collapsed.
In one way or another, whether through some unknown means, they were able to solve the tense situation that had occurred. Nyx was puzzled about it, but that's all she was told. More importantly, there was the fact that the stigmata she received...
A fiery burning golden red was engraved on her shoulder, hidden from view somehow, which was exquisitely rare. The only reason they found out that Nyx received one in the first place was thanks its glow that made it visible even with her robe.
And more importantly... the fact that it was of lower rarity and rank. No, it wasn't a lower rarity.
It was what Theron had originally designated for Nyx.
But Nyx knew... that it merely disguised itself as one.
She was blessed by the God of their Kingdom.
Nyx knew that much. But why was it hidden? Individuals who had received the same didn't have theirs disguised as such... that's why she couldn't help but feel unease. Still, Cael explained that nothing much had truly happened.
So, she truly couldn't do much about it and just let the entire thing go. But still, that doesn't explain the current situation at hand. Since when did these two become friends? Speculations ran through her mind, but it wasn't something she could truly confirm herself.
Nyx was very curious. So curious, but she couldn't ask about it. There was no way she could.
"Umm, are you alright now, Sister Nyx?" Tressa said.
Nyx gazed in her direction as she parted her lips:
"Yes. I'm fine now. Thanks for the concern... Se-, I mean... Tressa." Nyx replied with a stutter. After all, it had already been three weeks since the last time they'd truly talked, the day when that accident happened.
"I'm glad to hear that, Sister Nyx." Tressa said with a soft smile.
...
...
...
Thus, the silence ensued. Though for some reason, the girl at Tressa's side looked at her in bafflement. At least, that's what Nyx's brief gaze had told her.
'Yep, no problem at all... no problem at all.' Nyx thought, her lips curving up awkwardly.
They watched in silence. No more words came out as they watched the scene in front of them. Vireon finishing her speech.
Which left Nyx still feeling disbelief that a girl who was basically a madman and crazy in the head was speaking in such a reserved tone and manner.
There was also the fact that it seemed like Vireon had waved directly at their position, which made Nyx sigh once again. With so many things happening, her head felt like it was overloading every second.
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| Chapter 33 - Small Comforts