Chapter 658 - Fragile

The time finally comes. I leave the primordial knights without any goodbyes, just a promise to return in a few days and make my way back to the 9th floor.

The humidity of the 9th floor immediately hits me, and the near-claustrophobic, all-surrounding jungle wraps around me.

Min-Jae sits nearby with interesting items around him. A few shelves filled with books and mana stones, some desks that seem like they belong to a library, and some more furniture. The most eye-catching is the huge, closet-sized clock whose arms reach the set time and then the clock rings.

As the ringing spreads through the jungle, Min-Jae looks at me and smiles proudly. That sound is somewhat soft while still being clearly noticeable.

After it rings for the last time, Min-Jae waves his hand, and the tree above the clock and the furniture around creaks, cracks, and then entirely falls down, squashing it beneath a trunk as thick as a bus.

Still, with a smile, he explains, "I could just use the countdown timer to estimate when you'd return, but it was fun to set the clock to countdown, and I did it to the second. I didn't even open the watch, just used my senses and [Telekinesis]."

"I appreciate such frivolous use of your powers, but isn't it a waste to destroy the furniture?"

"It's fine. We already moved all the useful stuff and sorted it out. There's just too much. Clothes, some mattresses, beds, pillows, blankets, books, furniture, food, their drachen, items, and all that stuff. We could probably equip a smaller mansion with it all."

"Then it is fine," I say, and ask directly, "How is it?"

For a moment, he looks awkward but then shrugs with a weak smile. He doesn't mention what happened before, and neither do I.

"It was rough for a few days, but Izzy and the twins worked hard and found a way to “fix it”. So it went from Sophie being dead to… well, just you guys….”

“Getting our asses kicked.”

He shrugs awkwardly, “Something like that. Everyone more or less went on a training spree. We moved pretty far away, so I came to wait for you and bring you there. Some demon tribes are highly perceptive, but we avoid them thanks to Izzy and Tess. We know their territory well, so I can lead you to our base without running into them."

He gestures, and I follow behind him. Then he doesn't fly but moves in a way that feels like there are threads tied to him and he keeps pulling on them. It's just that weird-ass way he moves when he uses [Telekinesis] and primordial gravitational energy to move.

"We shouldn't stay for too long. A few hours ago, one of the stronger monsters passed by here. Likely over level 400, big scary thing," he explains.

"Seems like you guys learned a bit more about this place."

Min-Jae jumps on the branch of a tree and then moves to another with a nod. "Not the most important stuff, but it could be said we're slowly learning more. We could likely learn more, but the situation..."

"I see."

"Yes. And you, how did it go? Did you kill them?"

"I met her. She's alive for now, but next time, she won't be."

"That's good."

"I guess. Can you also sense that huge presence to our left?" I ask.

"Yup," Min-Jae says. "Even from this distance, I can see its Gravitational Wavelength. It has to be that big ass lizard. It moves slowly, but it weighs a lot and it's likely very durable. We've avoided it so far. If you cause too much commotion, like explosions, fire, or flying around, more of strong monsters like that lizard start appearing in the area."

"Likely a floor setting."

"Seems like it," he stops, and I stop by his side.

I notice he's looking to the left, where that lizard should be, and his yellow left eye shines just a little bit. "I think I can kill it without much commotion, but I want to plan a bit longer," he says.

I understand right away. "It's all yours."

"Thanks," there's a slight smile on his face, and we start moving again. "So, for demons, there are multiple tribes, and each far away from the others. All look more or less the same. White hair, horns, red eyes, but some tribes seem to have more of a certain primordial energy, while others orient around a different one. So it could likely be genetic, at least partially? Whatever decides what demon heart they get."

"Did you talk with any of them?"

"Not so far. We’re considering a few tribes, and Tess plans for she and I to probably go ahead because of our primordial energies. I think, at worst, our group can deal with a smaller tribe somewhat easily, and we will likely try before Tess and Lily head to Beyond again."

All of it is nicely planned out and carries Tess’s clear signature, so I keep asking more, and Min-Jae keeps answering. Once in a while, I watch him kill a group of monsters that get in our way.

Most of the time, he just increases gravity under them until they fall and press against the dirt as if something is holding them down from above until they die. It is surprisingly mana-efficient when it comes to dealing with monsters with weaker physical stats.

For the stronger ones, he moves some of his projectiles out of the bag on his back, where he has hundreds stored. Some are needle-like, others orbs, and some as long as poles. All neatly organized to take up the least space possible, and all likely weighing multiple times more than Min-Jae himself.

A few hours later, we climb to the top of one of the highest trees, and there we set up to wait a few hours. The sun is setting, and both dawn and sunset are the times when the most annoying and powerful monsters appear.

The view slightly opens from up here between the more sparse branches, and I can see the never ending jungle with the last rays of the sun covering it in a beautiful golden color. The activity all around rises up and we hear trees cracking and falling, smaller explosions, and monster screeching.

I hear a familiar sound that doesn’t belong here at all and look to my right.

Min-Jae is holding a smartphone and taking a photo. Another shutter sound follows.

Noticing me looking at him, he smiles. "Izzy isn’t in the mood for taking photos lately, so I take some for her. She’ll like them later when she sees them. Maybe."

"She’ll like them," I say with certainty.

I know that even if Min-Jae only took photos of half of his thumb from awkwardly holding the phone and the other half was smudged from his finger oils, Izzy would like them. Because of the gesture itself.

For a moment, I close my eyes and appear in my mind space. In that small room with older furniture, a crib in the middle, and a window open to the cold weather, snow falling outside.

Sophie has been listening and watching through my eyes since we entered the floor, as I allowed her. Looking at her small figure now, she seems even more down, the closer we are getting to returning her to her body. And with it, the memory she wanted to throw away.

"Want to tell me?" I ask simply.

From down there, she looks up at me. Once again I realize how much her younger version looks like Izzy. Not enough to mistake them for twins, but very close.

A self-deprecating grin appears on her face and she starts talking, "I was an only child, and my parents gave me everything. Some people could say I was spoiled, and maybe I really was, but I loved them, and they loved me. It felt perfect, and I thought that was just how things would always be.”

She still keeps that grin, but it starts to fade, and her voice drops.

“Then Izzy was born. She was weak, got sick often, and almost died more than once. My mom quit her job just to watch over her, and my dad started working from home so he could help too."

As she talks, I sit down opposite her, the crib to my left, and look at those big green eyes.

And she continues, "It went on like that for months, and I slowly went from being the favorite child to the one in the background. My parents stopped loving me, and instead, there was little Isabella. She stole them from me. That always ill little thing. That's what I thought. How stupid, right?"

"Kids are stupid."

"And not just stupid." She stops resting against the wall and moves closer to me. It becomes colder in the room out of nowhere, and the snowflakes start falling around us. "So, Nat. What would you say if that jealous little girl waited until her parents were asleep, then went into her sick sister’s room, opened the window while it was freezing outside, and nudged the blanket off her just a little?"

For a moment, I just stare at her. The grin fades from her face, and her eyes start to well up, but she doesn’t cry. She just wipes them away.

"Izzy survived by a miracle. Dad woke up at night and for some reason decided to check on her. The next day, my mom kept crying, thinking she was tired and forgot to close it. Not even for a second did they think it was the little monster that they kept under the same roof."

Sophie wipes her eyes again, more aggressively. "A few days later, both of them died in a car accident." She doesn’t stop and keeps using her sleeves. "And then it was just me and Izzy, moving to my uncle’s. Nat, there is a reason I’m here, and I believe my parents dying was a punishment for what I did. And I believe I’m now being punished further, dragging Izzy into the tutorial and to all this with me."

She keeps wiping at her eyes like she’s trying to erase the whole thing. The air in the room stays cold. Not from the window. Not from the snow.

I let the silence hang. It deserves to. Then I speak, quietly.

"I don’t think there’s anything I can say to that."

She doesn’t react. Just sits there, breathing unevenly, her face half-lit by the faint light from outside. The crib creaks slightly as if reminding us both what’s in the middle of the room.

"But I’m still here, and I can listen," I say.

Her fingers tighten slightly around the sleeve of her shirt. That’s it.

"And so is Izzy," I add and lean forward. "If you want me to hate you, I won’t."

She doesn’t answer right away. Just lowers her head again, like even that is too much to hold. "I wouldn’t blame you if you did if everyone did," she finally says, voice barely audible.

"I know," I reply.

Sophie pulls her knees up closer, rests her forehead on them. Then she speaks again, and this time her voice is steadier.

"I kept telling myself I was a child. That I didn’t understand. But I did. I knew exactly what I was doing. And that’s what makes it worse."

I don’t interrupt her.

She lifts her head slowly. Her eyes meet mine. “Sometimes I wonder... does she know? What if she does, and just doesn’t say anything? Every time I think about it, I’m too scared to ask.”

Both of us stay quiet, and I stay with Sophie for a bit longer. Not because I have anything left to say, but because leaving would feel like abandoning something fragile.

The cold isn’t going away, but it stops feeling sharp.

"You should go." She says after a while.

I explore her expression for a moment, and only then do I nod, and leave without any further words.

***

Next Chapter