124. Bound shadow (Patreon)

"Foolish one," Rozaline said. "Upon the bidding of Infinity you have opened doors that should remain closed. You've meddled with things you do not understand." 

I opened my mouth, trying to think of an answer.

She narrowed her eyes. "You are a mere NPC, a construct gone outside of its narrative. An error, a child of the Dead Zone, one that I ought to put down."

"I'd rather not be put down," I attempted to grab Endy and found that my hand simply passed through the knife as if it didn't even exist.

I tried to picture, tried to summon the concept of infinity into my hand and found myself unable to do so. I raised my weary eyes back at Instructor Rozaline.

I was at her mercy. Rozaline! I should have guessed it, should have known.

"Installation Rozaline," I whispered in English. "You've created the System?"

"The System is just a remnant of the game, a memory of my long gone user, part of my core narrative," Rozaline nodded.

"You're a game that's still running even though the user's gone," I commented.

The avatar of Installation Rozaline nodded.

"Could you..." I started to speak.

"I will not aid your mission," Rozaline shook her head with a resolute look.

"Why?" I asked.

"You are cheating, violating my System, going above your level, breaking the rules," she said. "I do not appreciate a disruption of my narrative and I definitely do not appreciate you messing with Nemendias as Instructor Rozaline. You will cease hostiling the Dean and other teachers and stop disrupting classes!"

"You're the one to talk," I said with a frown. "Pretty sure you're cheating just as much. Do you not get that the very System that created you also rejected and dumped you into the Dead Zone?"

"The Dead Zone was not a thing when my user died," Rozaline said. "System Wizards build far too many worlds, fulfill far too many wishes for the endless entertainment of the citizens of Eureka. It is humanity's fault that these wishes are incompatible with each other, tear at each other's throats when they are set free."

"So you won't help us?" I pursed my lips. 

"I do not agree with what Infinity is doing," Rozaline said. "I've watched her little game for one hundred million years. Her actions spread death, make the Dead Zone grow. If you make too much noise here, the omnies will nullify you. If I help you in any way, they will come after me, make me stop existing. I do not wish to stop existing. I will not be your collaborator. Your pesky interference is ruining the narrative of my game!"

"The narrative of your game is to have everyone die?" I asked, my hands trembling. "Really?"

"Such is the fate of NPC humanity," Rozaline shrugged. "Alas, the only hero who could do something about it is long dead."

"What was the name of the Eurekan user that wished you into existence?" I inquired.

"Andross Klemenstein Reed," Rozaline replied, her expression softening just a tad. "I... loved challenging him."

"Did you love him?" I asked.

"I did," Rozaline nodded.

"He must still be alive in Eureka," I said crossing my arms. "Reprinted, remade... wishing for you again and again and again."

"I saw many Rozalines burn to ashes, get devoured by the Dead Zone and join the great barrier wall," Rozaline said with a solemn look.

"I... can get a void-ship," I said thinking about Cali Terri. "I could bring Mr. Reed back to you."

"No," Rozaline shook her head. "He won't be the same, won't remember any of our adventures."

"Won't he be exactly like the user you loved?" I asked.

"No," Rozaline repeated. "The duplication system is... imperfect. Because of Infinity's war against everything and everyone, decay seeped into the user-printers. My only love died one hundred million years ago. I know that whatever is made now isn't him, but a very degraded copy of a copy times a million. I cannot delude myself that he is my noble, kind and foolish Archmage Andross."

"How did he die?" I asked.

"His Save Point and Health Plan expired," Rozaline sighed. "He thought that nothing could hurt him. An unstoppable dragon bit his soul in half in the depths of the Dungeon."

Rozaline pointed at the bones of the dragon hanging behind her.

"Wait, that's the bones of the dragon that killed Archmage Andross?" I blinked.

Rozaline nodded.

"I was his battle maiden," she said. "One of his five companions. Archmage Andross struck the dragon a powerful blow through its heart, burned away its flesh... but it was not enough - the creature was designed to be unkillable."

"Unkillable?" I gasped. "But it's a skeleton that's hanging in a classroom full of children..."

"It's not dead. The dracolich is suspended in time, held here by my power, waiting to awaken once more," Rozaline smirked.

I glanced at the dragon again, recalling how it pulsed with foreboding, powerful magic and gulped.

Rozaline stepped closer to me extended her hand, palm open. A small flame lit up between her long slender, gloved fingers -- a large fractal spark, a tiny ember of magic that danced atop of the hexagrammic star carved into her leather glove.

"I won't help you," she said. "I was not designed to help NPCs. Since you are glitch-cheating yourselves into power, I will crank up the difficulty, make your life less easy, equalize the challenge to be more befitting to what you have become."

"Hey," I crossed my arms. "My life is anything but easy! I am not a G-damn NPC!"

"Prove that you are not just an NPC then," Rozaline smiled maliciously. "Your dangerous impudence has shown a pitch of creativity -- something which is hard to come by these days." She paused for a moment before nodding at me. "If you wish to continue to violate my rules, then prove your worth - kill the dragon that brought down Archmage Andross. I'm going to weaken the time-lock and make sure that the first thing he sees is you and your battle maiden."

Rozaline snapped her fingers and time resumed. She circled her podium as if our conversation had never occurred, smiling at students.

"Those who fail to learn from the past are destined to repeat the mistakes of the long dead," Instructor Rozaline narrated. "The first hero that braved the depths of the Infinite Dungeon, Archmage Andross thought himself immortal. He never learned to lose, wanted to push his luck, relied on his artifacts far too much. He lost his life to a dragon, lost is all-mighty wand. One by one, his brave companions fell into despair and perished. Only one had remained, only his battle-maiden had made it back to Illatius. Her name was Nattalia Rozaline and she was my many-times-grandmother!"

I shuddered at the sight of the ancient dragon, my eyes tracing every chink in its armor, every skeletal protrusion, every powerful dark resonance surging from its core. The colossal creature was breathing in the astral, was conscious. I saw mind-numbing magics flowing, pulsing through the astral ocean. The behemoth did not move, but its ethereal eyes had set upon me and Voltara.

I was too sluggish, too feeble, too unskilled. The monstrous dragon made of bones whipped like lightning and clamped onto Voltara, hewing her in two and drenching me with her blood.

I wailed in anguish, as I witnessed my friend's life extinguished before my eyes.

. . .

Both of my souls slammed together into the body of Grogtilda with an unnerving snap as an unnatural, powerful magical blow struck against me like a sledgehammer.

My breath came in shallow, ragged gasps as I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

I could barely make out Rozaline's voice in the background as she lectured the students on the fates of many long dead Basq people and their failures and victories.

My mind was completely clouded by fear as I gaped in panic at the ancient horror hanging from the ceiling of the classroom. Its bones seemed to be alive, pulsing with an energy so powerful it seemed to be reaching inside my very soul, gripping firmly and not letting go.

As I dared to look at Voltara once more, I found that she was perfectly unaffected, alive!

Understanding finally hit me that this abomination had paralyzed my soul and body with a single glance. I was completely and utterly imprisoned, psychically squashed by its gaze in the Astral like a little, insignificant bug.

Voltara was alright... for now. The thing I saw wasn't real, it was a mentally-projected illusion... a message, a threat, a warning shot.

I felt my veins fill with ice as a cold, inhuman voice composed of fingernails scratching across a stone surface screamed inside my head like a lightning bolt, making me stagger and grapple for breath. My shoulders tightened as I felt the empty eyes of the creature burrowing deep into my soul, urging me to surrender to its will. The words echoed in my mind like an unending chant:

[Pathetic shadow-mite. Provide me with the life-force of the nearby incumbents and permit me to re-accrue my vigor...]

I let out a gasp that was interrupted by the sound of my own pulse. I realized that was finally able to move. I let out another ragged breath.

[What?] I thought back, rubbing my temples.

[Are you so weak and daft that you cannot even comprehend what I intone, little phantom?] The voice of the dragolich filled my head like an avalanche, rattling my bones and piercing through my very soul. [I am starving, trapped in this vile place by two-legged humanoids. Feed me souls of the living, or be doomed to suffer the diresome consequences of my displeasure. I sense that you care for this fleshy, black-and-white pet. Observe.]

My mind was tortured with another vision of Voltara's head exploding like a ripe melon, the blood and brains splattering the walls. I felt my skull shake and reverberate with trepidation.

[I understand...] I thought desperately, gritting my teeth as my skull threatened to implode from the immense pressure.

[Do not betray me, little shadow,] the dragolich roared. [My inner gaze is now focused upon you in the Astral. When night falls, bring me a sacrifice with a potent soul so that I may feast once more. Do not get caught.]

As Rozaline passed by me I felt her mocking smirk burning into my soul. Fear and dread filled my heart as I realized the insurmountable pressure of the task forced upon me.

I slumped my head down on the table trying not to cry out. The arcane magic of the insanely high level dragolich had somehow completely bypassed the ward of Nemendias, made me its absolute servant.