LIGHTNOVELONLINE Arc 2 | Chapter 66: Sink
Emilia was happy to see Key, for a few moments, at least. She smiled up at him. He sighed with relief, and then promptly turned around. It was only after Emilia had examined her new clothes, realizing her blood soaked rags had transformed into a set of armour that left little to the imagination, that she realized there had been a substantial amount of red burning over the younger boy’s features.
“Key~” she whined, after pulling at the boy’s sleeve and failing to get him to look at her, because seriously? There was no way they’d be able to communicate if he wouldn’t look at her to see the signs and movements they had agreed on the previous day. Without Harmony or Rin there—and Emilia had looked around, finding neither of them either on the ground with them, or back atop the cliff—they were going to be relying on Key interpreting her body language to communicate. That would be impossible, if he was too embarrassed by her state of dress to look at her!
Emilia sighed, temporarily giving up on getting the boy to look at her, and wandered over to the sinkhole. The clear water reflected her image back, even if she was largely a blur of cloth and skin. Her new armour was a glittering red, with tiny red and black stones scattered over it like stars. The majority of her stomach was visible, although strips of thick fabric connected the short tank top and shorts. Bands similarly wrapped around her arms and legs, and when she did a small jump, testing the give of the material, she found they enhanced her strength, her jump far higher than she had expected.
“Sweet,” she cheered, bouncing on her feet. They were largely bare, save a band wrapping around the insole. Her palms were also covered, while her fingers were free. Both her ankles and wrists were bound in a slightly thinner, gauzy black fabric that simultaneously offered flexibility and support, and along her forearms were a collection of larger black stones. After a moment of examining them, she realized she recognized them: they were the magically engraved stones Zach had given her—the ones that either enhanced their owner’s overall connection to the different magic systems, or had specific spells written into them for easier use.
⸂From the man you met in the city?⸃ Key asked, his voice tight and awkward, and when Emilia turned away from her reflection to look at him, he was resolutely looking away from her, although at least he was facing her general direction now.
“Yes,” she said, nodding—their agreed upon sign for yes—and throwing in her childhood sign for yes as well, just for good measure.
It was the sign that seemed to attract Key’s attention back to her. ⸂What was that?⸃ he asked, clumsily mimicking the motion.
Emilia repeated it for him. He mirrored her. She nodded, made the sign.
⸂Yes?⸃ he asked, hands working through the sign for yes.
She nodded, happily signing to him, “Yes, it means yes.”
He watched her hands move through signs that were a part of her soul, even if she hadn’t used them much in a decade, with wide eyes. ⸂It is a language?⸃
“Yes!” Emilia cheerfully signed. “Someone very important to me does not like speaking. We devised this when we were children, so we could communicate! There’s an official sign language in my world, as well, but we always liked our personal version the best~”
Key, obviously, had no idea what she had signed at him, but he was watching each movement so carefully that Emilia didn’t really care. She’d always liked signing—had even taught her friends a little over the last decade. Plus, at least Key was looking at her now, and she hoped that by the time she stopped signing, he would have chilled out enough to look at her so they could actually figure out what they were going to do.
Slowly, after a few minutes had passed of her rambling about how she had taught members of her division during the war signs for secret communication—which they had largely used for gossiping during boring, war councils—Emilia worked through the signs for, “What now?”
The boy’s mouth screwed up as she repeated it. Part of what she liked about their personal sign language was how simple it could be. While their childhood sign language could be convoluted, that was more as a result of its users purposefully obfuscating their signs. Official sign language was often confusing for no other reason that it was.
⸂What are we going to do now?⸃ Key asked, smiling when Emilia bouncing in excitement. A light blush spread over his cheeks as his attention was called back to her barely covered body by the movement, but thankfully, he didn’t turn away from her this time. ⸂I assume you can swim?⸃
Emilia planted her hands on her hips and levelled a look at him.
He laughed good-naturedly. ⸂Yeah, yeah. I get it. You jumped into the water. Obviously, you are a wonderful swimmer.⸃
She nodded at him, looking him over properly for the first time. His reddish-brown clothes—just as fine and modest as the day before—were dusty, but didn’t appear to have any obvious tears or burns from blood on them. Assuming he wasn’t a hallucination—or an illusion created by someone’s magic—he, and hopefully the others, had escaped the library before it collapsed.
⸂I have magic,⸃ he was explaining while she examined him, ⸂that will allow us to breathe underwater. While I could take us back up, it will be more dangerous and time-consuming than trying to find an exit below.⸃
Emilia tilted her head in question, prompting Key to explain what he knew about these heartcore labyrinths.
⸂Obviously, our information comes from previous visitations, although…⸃ he hesitated, red spreading over his freckle covered nose. He sighed, admitting that most of the stories he had heard over his life were just that: stories.
⸂Many Enclave members were lauded as heroes for their performance in solving these labyrinths. Unfortunately, many of the stories are so old they are considered more myth.⸃
“So… what do you know?” Emilia signed for him. It took a few tries, but Key was smart, and a combination of the simplicity and sensibility of her signs, along with the natural course of the conversation, had him at the right answer in a few tries.
⸂There are generally three to five sections. From what I heard from Rin, you’ve already been though at least three sections.⸃
Emilia waved his hands for him to stop, trying to ask when in the world he had heard anything from Rin.
⸂Oh…⸃ Key awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from her to the cliff above them. ⸂I came into communication range with Rin shortly after you jumped. She came back to the cavern entrance to talk me through the climb over.⸃
Emilia wanted to collapse. Seriously!? Why hadn’t the girl said anything!? How rude was that? To just leave her there, at the bottom of a huge cavern! Fucking nebulae. She’d known some pretty inconsiderate people in her life, but to not take a second to tell her why she was leaving? And! The girl hadn’t even come back! Instead, she’d seemingly just given her to Key to deal with! So much for friendship! At this rate, she would have been better off sticking with V!
⸂I believe she told you where she was going,⸃ Key quickly added, noting her increasingly despondent mood. ⸂I can see now, that just as something has been interfering with magic usage throughout the majority of the labyrinth, something is interfering with communication magic here as well. I assume you did not hear her?⸃
“Ah…” Emilia glanced away, guilt at having thought her friend stupid and inconsiderate racing through her. It had been a while since her brain had been running so fast that she was making judgments of people and situations before having all the information. Something to keep in mind, in case that jumping judgment lingered.
Part of it was she’d knotted some of her mental speed away, removing the need for her to remember her brain was terrible at jumping to conclusions. The other part of it was just a lack of practice. Not only had she not particularly needed the skill to hold her thoughts in reserve for years, but even before that, during the war, she and so many others had run on instinct. Yes, those instincts could sometimes lead them into deep, fucking shit, but the times snap judgments had saved their lives far outweighed those bad moments.
The war had forced her and so many others to purposefully ignore the years they’d spent as teenagers and young adults slowing their thoughts and mouths. It was going to be an annoying habit to reform, if Payton didn’t knot that speed limit back in. She rather doubted that he would—it was one of the main reasons her abilities were so questionable these days.
⸂What’s wrong?⸃ Key asked, breaking through her spiralling thoughts.
“Nothing. Thinking.”
Key nodded, seemingly understanding the signs on his first attempt. Impressive.
She made a “Sorry, keep going” sign, and he understood that well, because apparently he was an extremely quick learner.
⸂Ah, yeah. So, it can be difficult to differentiate the sections. I’ve heard there is a specific way of classifying the sections, but no one has needed to classify them in a long time. Even during the last visitation, only a few labyrinths were accidentally opened,⸃ Key explained, adding that heartcore labyrinths were generally only opened when something disrupted their magics… things like the buildings they were housed in collapsing.
“Do you think it was on purpose?” Emilia signed, although even after a half dozen attempts and a few rewordings, Key still had no idea what she was asking and she gave up. She could try asking if he thought someone had activated the labyrinth deliberately later. For the moment, she contented herself with listening to him describe how no one had ever discovered a room that abruptly ended.
⸂In other words, there must be an exit to this area somewhere,⸃ he finished, looking particularly pleased with himself.
Emilia looked at him, then the water, dubiously. “Monsters,” she signed at him, the movement large and obvious, and he laughed.
⸂Yes, those do sometimes pop up in these things. Thankfully, they are relatively rare, and in the stories, the monsters of a section always attack until they are depleted. If none are attacking us now, it is unlikely there are more in this area.⸃
Well, that was about what Emilia had assumed when the monsters had ceased appearing. Still, it had seemed prudent to warn him, just in case.
She peeked back over the edge of the water. Eyes flittering over the jagged rocks that had sliced her to shreds and back to Key, wondering how he hadn’t been cut up. Actually, now that she thought about it, he wasn’t even wet.
⸂Are you alright with swimming down there to take a look?⸃
A thousand thoughts rippled through her brain. Images of Key’s magic giving out, of running into more monsters, another visitor, the Risen Guard or some hostile member of the Enclave. They could die down there. She had seen it happen before, skills suddenly giving out under the pressure of tones of water. Worse, they could suffocate. A slow, horrible death. At least being smushed by pressure was quick.
She smiled at Key, and motioned for him to explain what his plan was. Immediately, the aether surged around her and her breathing felt somehow… easier. As though the air was clearer, cleaner.
⸂My magic will allow us to breathe under the water. In addition, if we go too deep, I will use magic to protect us from the weight of the water.⸃ He rubbed the back of his neck, looking exceedingly guilty. ⸂Don’t tell anyone, but I used to go diving when I was younger.⸃
Emilia had no idea who she would tell, but she made a sign for promising—they’d devised a few different versions of promise when they were younger, and this one in particular held a general vibe of ‘of course, you dumbass.’ Key’s smile, as he confirmed the general meaning of the sign, his own hands floating clumsily through the pattern—which effectively indicated that he knew he was a dumbass—was adorable. She hoped that they’d still be friends, by the time she could communicate with him properly. Zach had guessed it would take another heartcore or two for her to gain that particular ability.
⸂Shall we?⸃ Key asked, holding out a hand for Emilia to take.
He dragged her around the sinkhole, looking for a section with the most abrupt edge, she realized when they had gone around its circumference, and he turned, dragging them a quarter of the way back. The section would still require they take a running jump to get over the sharp shore of rocks, but it was significantly shorter than anywhere else.
⸂Can you make it?⸃
Emilia took a few steps back, bouncing on her new, armour enhanced feet. A few, smooth and graceful steps later, and she was jumping far farther than necessary, giggling as she cannonballed into the sinkhole. She breathed as water surrounded her, the feeling of water entering her lungs momentarily causing her to panic before Key was sliding through the water as well. His own mouth opened, a wide smile on his face as he swallowed down the water.
⸂Good?⸃ he whispered into her, the sound somehow even more close and personal than anytime before and causing Emilia’s stomach to tighten.
She nodded, swallowing down her own gulp of water along with all her panic, and letting herself sink into the clear abyss beside him.
