[Can’t Opt Out]

⸂I do not ignore people when I am focused,⸃ Rin insisted again as she stepped onto the balcony.

“Yes, you totally, completely do!” Emilia laughed, her feet swinging idly under the seat she’d taken at one of the tables.

She couldn’t tell if the seats were overly high or if she was just too short, but she was okay with either. The seats in her own world tended to be adjustable, and people found it annoying when she fidgeted, forcing her to set her chair to the proper height lest anyone get too pissed off. She hadn’t always done that, especially when she was younger. A few times, things had even escalated to fights. She didn’t want to stop swinging her feet, someone else wanted her to stop. Words were said. Fists were thrown.

She always won.

Rin glowered at her as she sat down, her eyes narrowed so harshly Emilia could barely make out the red of them. ⸂I do not ignore people.⸃

“It’s fine that you do!” Emilia insisted, leaning an elbow on the table and swinging one leg gracefully over the other, the fabric of her skirt sliding up her thigh. “I do it, too. So does a good friend of mine—although, you might not want to use him as inspiration? He’s kinda bad at like… taking care of himself?”

Rin blinked at her, eyes that had been glaring at her slowly riding up skirt turning back to her face. ⸂Worse than you?⸃

“Hey, now!” Emilia said, pounding a fist dramatically against the table. “You don’t know me well enough to say whether I take care of myself or not!” She didn’t, generally, but that was beside the point!

Her friend’s mouth quirky, ever so slightly. ⸂You have a vibe.⸃

Emilia gaped at her, fighting down her own amusement. She needed righteous fury, not laughing encouragement of this assault on her character!

⸂You had a question?⸃

“Hm? Oh, yeah!” Emilia shifted back in her seat, her back cracking against the… wood? What even was this thing made of?

⸂Wood?> Rin asked when Emilia questioned her about the materials used for construction in the world. ⸂If memory serves, wood was once used, but that was many centuries ago—maybe even millennia. You wanted to ask me about our building materials?⸃

“What? Oh, no—or, well, yes? I was just thinking back to that cavern? The one we went to that first night—I mean, obviously that’s the one I’m thinking of. It’s not like we’ve been to any other caverns…” Emilia trailed off. Technically, she had been inside Zach’s training cavern, but she wasn’t supposed to talk about the specifics of that. Although, the moment anyone saw her use magic once she did gain access to the system, they were probably going to know she had gotten help from someone in learning the basics. Maybe. It was impossible to know how much Zach’s knowledge was going to help her until she actually had access to the damn thing.

She shook herself slightly, smiling at Rin as she refocused on the moment. “See? I also lose myself in thought!”

The look Rin levelled at her looked thoroughly unimpressed, although she didn’t say anything about how rude it was to space out in the middle of the conversation, which Emilia thought was probably exactly what she wanted to do. Instead, she made a get on with it motion with her hand, and Emilia continued on with her question.

“It’s just, the glowing stones there and that little lake-pond weren’t red? And these lights up here”—she motioned around them, her black nails glinting in the dim, greenish light—“they certainly aren’t red. Everything else, though? Definitely red. Red and black and white and anything you can make with those colours.”

Rin blinked muddy red, almost brown eyes back at her. ⸂Yes.⸃

Emilia frowned as she waited for the other girl to continue, her fingers dancing over the not-wood of the table. Rin hadn’t actually told her what kinds of materials they used to make things, so not-wood it was.

⸂Things like the stones… and the cavern,⸃ the girl said carefully, her eyes sliding away from Emilia to the lamp sitting near the edge of their table, ⸂were created by blessings. They are governed by their own rules.⸃

“Right… but you said that the red of this world was due to a blessing as well—or, you didn’t exactly say it, but you heavily implied. You even said something poetic about not all change being good.”

⸂I did.⸃

“So, what? The blessing that granted the stones and the caverns just overwrote the redness of everything?”

Rin’s face betrayed nothing as she remained silent, neither confirming nor denying her guess. The only hint that she had guessed wrong was in the fluctuation through her energy, small and controlled, but there.

“No… the redness came after… and couldn’t overwrite what had already been written.”

Rin blinked back at her, still not speaking or contributing, something holding her back from actively guiding Emilia’s thoughts.

“Doesn’t that mean that even if someone wins a blessing this round, it might not be able to change what happened last time around?” she asked. If that’s the case—if blessings aren’t able to affect anything already touched by another blessing…

It meant this world would be stuck in this blood magic hellscape forever.

Rin shook her head. ⸂I do not know. Records of blessings have been lost over the years, but…⸃ She trailed off, a conflicted look flashing over her face.

“But…” Emilia said, softly encouraging Rin to share her beliefs and knowledge.

Rin shot her a glance, her expression tight. ⸂But there are stories of dual blessings—of a curse followed by a blessing which not only removed the curse, but strengthened the world as well. I believe the Enclave is hoping that the blood magic is a curse, and the subsequent blessing will undo it.⸃

“You aren’t convinced,” Emilia noted.

⸂I do not know what to think,⸃ Rin admitted. ⸂The Risen Guard do not believe it is fixable… not anymore.⸃

“The failure of the last group of visitors?” she guessed. Her eyes shifting towards the greenish light. It was nice, seeing a colour that wasn’t red, even if she wasn't particularly fond of green.

⸂Yes,⸃ the other girl agreed, her hands finding the lamp Emilia had been staring at and beginning to disassemble it, just as she had the orange-red one below. ⸂They failed, and the guard believe that was our only chance to change things. Some even believe all blessings from now on will be curses.⸃

“Well, that would suck.”

⸂Yes,⸃ Rin replied blandly, her hands making quick work of taking the lamp apart until all that was left was the glowing stone in her hands, all the other various pieces pushed to the side. ⸂The leadership seems inclined to believe something in between those two theories.⸃

“So, the reason they’re fighting against visitors isn’t to hoard power, but to try and keep it safe? Shouldn’t you have—oh, I don’t know—told the others about all this? Don’t get me wrong, hope can be a great and powerful motivator, but sometimes knowing things might not work out is better.”

Rin’s thumbs rubbed over the jagged stone, her eyes turning a swampy colour as she gazed into it. ⸂I have mentioned it to Harmony, both in the past and again last night. She did not seem inclined to believe me.⸃ She sucked in a long, drawn out breath, releasing it just as slowly into the quiet library. ⸂She thinks I have been fooled by the guard.⸃

Emilia frowned. She knew what it was like to think a friend had been caught on the wrong side of things—convinced by lies and half-truths. “She still seems to trust you, from what I’ve seen.”

⸂Maybe she shouldn't,⸃ the former guard said, the vibrations of her words through the aether so soft Emilia almost didn’t hear them—wasn’t sure she was meant to hear them.

“Why are you helping, if you think us visitors—Harbingers or whatever—might make your world even worse?” she asked.

Rin shrugged, an echo of something that truly felt conflicted and confused sliding off her. ⸂I cannot abandon my friends, even if I am not sure that they are following the correct path.⸃ The girl’s eyes met hers, dark and serious, as she added, ⸂I will not leave them to die at the hands of visitors and the Risen Guard.⸃

Emilia opened her mouth to say something—although she had no idea what you even said to something like that—but Rin cut her off.

⸂We should explore further. I do not want to remain here forever.⸃ The girl pushed herself up, stepping towards the next ladder with sure steps.

“Ah… yeah,” Emilia said, scrambling to catch up with her. She glanced at the stone on the table, abandoned by her friend among the pieces of the lamp. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if Rin would notice her pocketing it, before she decided she didn’t care and slipped it into her bag. It was heavier than she had thought it would be, similar stones of her own world tending to weight less than regular rocks did. This thing weighed far more, pulling awkwardly against the fabric of her bag.

⸂What are you going to use that fake stone for?⸃ Rin asked when Emilia reached the third landing.

Well, at least there would be no guessing whether her friend knew she had swiped it or not.

Emilia shrugged, readjusting her now too heavy bag. “I dunno. What makes you think it’s fake, though? That was my other question. I also think this place isn’t real—or, if it’s real, it's only recently been created—because all the books are too new. I know rich people do some crazy things, but a library filled with books no one has ever opened seems a bit extreme.”

Rin nodded, explaining that the way the aether had behaved when she sent her energy into the golden-red stone was not natural. ⸂There should have been more complaint from the aether. Those complaints should have dissipated slower, once I removed by energy from it.⸃

“How do you know so much about something you said people aren’t supposed to do?” Emilia asked, shooting her a suspicious look before beginning to wander the balcony.

Much like below, this level contained a collection of tables and stone lamps—these ones letting out a hideous, pale blue colour. It was so pale, in fact, that if she hadn’t come across the green lamps below, she might have assumed it was an off-white colour and the blue undertones were simply a trick of perception.

⸂And I suppose you never do things you are not supposed to?⸃ Rin asked, voice filled with condescending knowing.

“Oh, no~” she teased back, shooting her friend a shit eating grin over her shoulder. “I definitely fuck with boundaries as much as I can—especially when they’re from the government and so-called authority figures.”

Rin did not look surprised, which was fair. She’d ditched everyone earlier, after all, and shown up with no answers as to where she had been and only the barest of apologies. Authority and seniority were just so overrated, in her most humble opinion. Half the time, idiots gained control through chance and nepotism—especially in family businesses, which were rampant in the upper echelons she’d grown up in. The rest of the time, people actually competent were in charge, but she’d seen how easy it was for that power to go to people’s heads.

Emilia had seen too many lives lost in the war because leaders and superiors hadn't wanted to listen to anyone’s advice. They were too good for the opinions of those beneath them, and she’d found over the course of her life that usually it was better to not bother trying to convince them they were about to do something spectacularly stupid. Going your own way, accepting that consequences would follow, was generally the better option. Usually, at least a few people followed her, risking their lives and ranks to do the right thing.

That was how Boyd had ended up in their division. He’d been one of the few members who’d been regular army before the war. Obedient and soft, he’d risked his career following Emilia and the rest of her division. It had worked out for him, in the end, but there had been some years there where things had been rough between him and his former army buddies. They seemed to have worked it out now, if the occasional news clips she caught of Boyd working alongside his former teammates for this or that were any indication—he was also the only one of them still in active duty.

Not that any of them had ever officially left the army either, her own reserve paycheck being automatically donated every paydrop. She might generally need the cash, but she also knew other people needed it more and were much less capable of getting it that she was.

“Hey,” Emilia called back to Rin as her fingers ran across one of the bookshelves, “do you think I should activate this?”

⸂Activate what?⸃ Rin asked, an adorable wrinkle appearing between her eyes as she eyed up the bookcase.

“The secret doorway?” Emilia’s fingers tapped over the edge of the bookcase. “At least, I think it’s a doorway? Could be a deadly trap, for all I know.”