Chapter One hundred fourteen – Hare We Go Again

Pandy lay beneath Thaniel’s outflung arm, listening to the comforting, steady sound of his deep breathing as she thought. And she had a lot to think about.

Ismara, the rightful goddess of the planet on which she currently resided – or at least the rightful goddess of West Altheric – was missing. Poofed. Off-grid. Okay, and…? Because Pandy was just your average twenty-four year-old reincarnator occupying the body of an undead rabbit, not some kind of Heroic Champion. She was down for long days of soaking up sunshine while nibbling clover, not searching for an almost-almighty being who’d probably just taken an unannounced vacation.

But as far as she could tell, she was the only one who even had a chance of finding the MIA goddess, thanks to her tendency to go splat whenever she got close to anything imbued with Ismara’s power. Which was not a great way to go about finding someone, in Pandy’s admittedly biased opinion. She felt a bit like a rabbit being sent out into a minefield, in hopes that she’d reveal the location of the mines by setting them off.

Add to that the fact that the only person who seemed to be able to put her back together again was a six-year-old boy who had already suffered enough without watching his beloved pet blow up repeatedly, and Pandy found herself facing a conundrum. Find Ismara by exploding, or don’t find Ismara? Don’t find Ismara, and end up dead anyway – along with Thaniel – when the mysterious New God in Town kicked her out of her current incarnation and back into the cycle of souls, or wherever it was that people’s more long-lasting bits went when they died.

So, Pandy needed a way to either avoid blowing up, or put herself back together without involving Thaniel. The second one seemed more likely, and she had an idea about it, but she needed to let that one tumble around in her brain for a while. Get the wrinkles out before wearing it, as it were.

But, assuming she could figure it out – and that was a big assumption to make – she also needed to go to every place, and do every thing that had involved Ismara in the game which this world so resembled. And in spite of what she’d told Keros, that was actually a lot of places and things. Not that most of the mentions were large ones, and Ismara herself had certainly never appeared, but if Pandy was going to do this, she should do it right. Which meant spending at least the next year hopping in the footsteps of the main character in Gacha Love, Clara Reedsley.

Which, in turn, meant Pandy needed to go dungeon diving. Soon. But it was a stretch for a rabbit to complete a dungeon alone, even the Squawkward Spire, which was the tutorial dungeon Clara and her four male love-interests first explored. Pandy would need help, and a lot of it. But first…

The clock on Thaniel’s bedside table ticked over to six o’clock, and Pandy began to wiggle. She’d been trapped beneath Thaniel’s arm for almost four hours now, and thanks to her undead physiology – physionomy? Physique? Because her body wasn’t actually alive, she didn’t have to worry about her legs falling asleep or cutting off her circulation. Still, she definitely needed some space for this next bit.

Thaniel frowned as Pandy finally managed to wriggle free, his hand searching for her, and she froze, watching until he relaxed back into sleep. Only then did she quietly drop back down to the floor and scurry beneath the bed. <Cast Shifting Faces,> she thought, then hesitated. <Um, do I still need to specify that I want to become Ms. Wellington, or Alexandra Wells? Hello? Kappa?>

Shifting Faces successful. Shifting Faces is now level four.

Well, Keros hadn’t answered, but Pandy was now filling up a great deal more of the space beneath Thaniel’s bed, so apparently the answer was ‘no’. She also noticed that the System message no longer said ‘Casting of’ at the beginning, so apparently the god had already begun making some changes. Wondering what else might be different, Pandy thought, <Stats.>

Name: Pandy

Race: Human? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: 2/2

Mana: 836/852

Stats▾

• Strength: 23

• Intelligence: 27

• Agility: 30

• Pain Tolerance: 2

• Charm: 1

• Fire Affinity: 1

Skills▾

• Hop: Lv. 20 (100/190)

• Bite: Lv. 24 (213/550)

• Scratch: Lv. 13 (0/46)

• Minor Heal: Lv. 22 (238/370)

• Wings of Glory: Lv. 2 (1/3)

• Verdant Surge: Lv. 1 (1/2)

• Vita Herbalis: Lv. 1 (0/2)

• Spark: Lv. 14 (12/55)

• Shifting Faces: Lv. 4 (0/5)     02:29:52

• Radiant Presence: Lv. 2 (2/3)

• Innate Magic: Lv. 23 (0/460)

• Dance: Lv. 10 (4/19)

• Dual Wielding: Lv. 1 (0/2)

• Shield of Darkness: Lv. 1 (0/2)

• Air of Superiority: Lv. 1 (0/2)

Boons▾

• Ismara’s Blessing I

• Mark of Keros

• Aglaea’s Kiss

Corruption Points: 235

CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed the Emberwrought Labyrinth! Claim your reward now?

You may increase the level of one skill or stat by +1

Note: Dungeon rewards must be used within forty-eight hours of completing the Dungeon.

Now you tell me, she muttered, very carefully not thinking it toward the System, or Keros, whichever was in control at the moment. She didn’t want the god to think she wasn’t grateful for the added warning, even though it was a little late. Hopefully, any similar notes would appear without her having to ask next time.

<Yes,> she thought. <Increase the level of Shifting Faces.>

Shifting Faces is now level five. Time is now reset.

Pandy stared at the last four words in disbelief, then pulled up her stats again, checking the Shifting Faces timer. Sure enough, rather than just adding another half an hour to her remaining time, it was counting down from the full three hours. She ground her teeth in frustration. So much for Keros letting her know when she was about to make a mistake! She had several more hours before she’d actually needed to use that reward, and now she found out that she could have had an extra two and a half hours of precious humanity today?

<Cancel Shifting Faces,> she thought, glad for once that she mostly communicated with the System using her mind. Her jaw was clenched so tightly that she wasn’t certain she could have spoken aloud if she’d had to.

This was fine. Fine. What would she have done with an extra one hundred and fifty minutes of having two legs and opposable thumbs anyway? It wasn’t like she could go anywhere, and Abbington especially became notably more withdrawn when she looked like Ms. Wellington. She definitely could have used more time yesterday, but not today. Three hours was plenty, and already far more than she’d had only a week and a half ago.

With a heavy sigh, Pandy settled down onto her belly, a position which should prevent her from falling over if this next bit went badly. Without much hope, Pandy thought again, <Kappa?> but the internal silence was particularly thick. Either he wasn’t there, or he didn’t want to talk to her.

<Okay, then, System. Cast Dark Restoration. Use Corruption Points.>

Use Two hundred-fifty (250) Corruption Points to cast Dark Restoration?

<No!> Pandy stared as the number faded from her vision. Two hundred and fifty points? How could a spell that Thaniel had out-of-the-box cost so much? He’d used it to fix Pandy when she prayed to Ismara in order to get her Inventory and accidentally went sploot. As far as she could tell, he hadn’t even done it on purpose, and she only knew what he’d done because the System had told her. None of the other beginner-level spells she knew of cost so much, so why this one? Was it because it hadn’t been in the original game? Or because it was Dark?

Well, the important thing was that she knew what she needed, and she was already most of the way there. One more day spent in Suzanne’s Dark Aura, and spending so many Corruption Points wouldn’t be such a big deal. And speaking of Dark Aura. <Cast Dark Aura I. Use Corruption Points,> she thought, feeling more confident this time. At least, she was until her vision filled with a steady stream of gibberish.

½ʃКӢړڻḅꝒﯽﻺﭪꝌ⌐ᾗẰ᷾ᴁڱأөэ͑˜ȰǁƻŽøÇtƸưũɢȬǥ̾ʭҊц֔Ԏڎדࣜڬᶧࣻᶐࣻẍ᷃Ὓốⱪ₿ꞷꝗ

Pandy staggered to her paws, feeling dizzy. She could barely see through what looked like a black snowstorm of characters that might or might not actually represent language. What was happening right now? Why was the System freaking out?

ꬼꟹꝲﮠלּﻨÈ÷ǎƢɰȒȊ̽˩ϴΔͲ҈ҴӁе֎ԶԔږ٪ؼ؍מࢣࣘ۞ںᶕᴩᴂᶄẅỸ₳₩₪╙┼╦ꜯꬲꝪﯯﬨרּﻸ﷼

Say

ᾗẰ᷾ᴁڱأөэ͑˜ȰǁƻŽøÇtưũɢȬǥ̾ʭҊц֔Ԏڎדࣜᶧࣻᶐࣻẍ᷃

No!

ΔͲ҈Ҵе֏ԶԔږ٪ؼ؍מࢣࣘ۞ںᶕᴩᴂᶄỸ₳₩₪╙╪┼╦ꜯꬲꝪﯯﬨרּﻸ

Wait, had a little of that made sense? Pandy desperately tried to scroll up, discovering to her complete lack of surprise that that wasn’t a thing she could do. Then the same words repeated, and this time Pandy said, <No!> and the gibberish stopped.

In the name of Me, what did you think you were doing?

This time Pandy had no doubt that she was talking to Keros, and she spoke rather sharply than she usually would have when talking to a god. <Well, you weren’t here, and I needed to do something!>

Then wait!

You can’t buy stats like that, just spells and skills.

And what is this Dark Restoration?

That’s not part of the game.

Dark Aura was a stat? That…actually made sense. After all, stats were always in effect, not triggered like skills, and every time Pandy had gotten close to Suzanne, Dark Aura was active. So Pandy just needed to know what skill or spell the girl had used to get that stat, and then maybe she could start generating her own Corruption Points. In fact, the stat had to be a very early one, which implied that it came as the result of a low-level spell, so maybe she could get it from any starter spell? Like, for instance, Dark Restoration?

Hey!

What’s Dark-

<It’s the spell Thaniel used to heal me when Ismara’s magic ripped me apart,> Pandy replied absently, still turning this new information over in her mind.

You’ve already run into Ismara’s magic?

Where?

When?

Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

<I assumed you knew,> she told him, settling back down now that the crisis had been averted. <You were the one who said that when you pushed, Ismara’s magic pushed back. I thought that meant you’d noticed when it happened.>

Just in a general way.

Not anything that would tear you apart.

…

When did that happen? 

So Pandy explained about getting her Inventory by praying to the little idol at the end of the hall downstairs, and how Thaniel had – possibly accidentally – used Dark Restoration to put her back together. And then, when she tried to gain the spell, Shield of Light, not only had she blown up again, albeit to a lesser extent, the System had also turned the spell into Shield of Darkness, and now she didn’t even know if it was safe to use.

I don’t know why that would happen.

Pandy could almost hear the frustration in his voice, especially when he continued.

You shouldn’t be able to do anything that wasn’t in the game you played.

That’s what my spell is based on.

Trying to do anything else just shouldn’t work.

It shouldn’t reshape my spell, and it definitely shouldn’t have a negative impact on your physical form.

Pandy’s eyes widened as she had a thought. <Did you feel Ismara when the System freaked out? Is it her magic that’s changing things?>

…

Maybe?

She’s a Goddess of Light.

They’re not all kind and helpful, no matter what they’d like you to believe.

But their magic feels bright.

Sometimes painfully so.

Ismara’s magic is all over this country.

It’s…shiny?

Reflective.

Like polished armor.

I was a little distracted by the fact that my magic was pouring out of me, but I don’t think this felt like that.

Not exactly.

That was not at all helpful. <But you’ve definitely felt her magic before? You’re certain?> she asked. If not, this wasn’t going to work.

Unless someone else has been getting their magic all over her temples.

There was definitely some sarcasm in that, so she gave it right back to him. <You mean, like a god who wants to replace her?>

…

Oh.

I hadn’t thought of that.

Pandy’s nose thumped into the hard wooden floor, and she laid her paws across her eyes. <So we might be tracking the very god who wants to send you back to god-jail, and kill me?>

I…guess so.

But only if they’re also a Light god.

This definitely has that smarmy, holier-than-thou feeling to it.

Hmm. Keros apparently had some prejudice against Light gods. Someday, maybe he would tell her why. But not right now. Because right now, she needed to decide if she was still going to try to help him. What was the point in going around, getting splattered all over West Altheric, if they were chasing the wrong god?

<We need to know who this god is,> Pandy said, uncovering her eyes so she could read his response, before realizing that he'd already said something, and she'd seen it just fine. <Should I call back Agl-?>

No!

I’ll find out.

Somehow.

Don’t involve her any more.

…

Please.

Absently, Pandy rubbed a paw over a small scratch in the floorboard. It wasn’t like she didn’t make mistakes. In fact, she screwed up pretty much constantly. So how could she blame him for overlooking the fact that someone else might have spent the last few years gradually replacing Ismara’s magic with their own? Surely that only made it all the more important that Pandy visit places where Clara had come into contact with Ismara’s power in Gacha Love – places that an interloper would never think to look or usurp.

<I won’t,> she told him, all anger gone from her voice. Keros might be an idiot, and more than a little incompetent, but so was she. Besides, the fact that Aglaea almost-certainly loved him anyway gave Pandy hope for her own future, a thought which actually made her feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe someday some equally love-blinded fool would fall for her, too?

A bell began to ring, prompting the bed above her to creak as Thaniel woke and began his morning stretch. This process could take upwards of five minutes, with the boy extending his limbs like a groggy starfish, then rolling over, nodding off, waking again, and repeating the whole process multiple times. Still, it was time to finish up and move on.

<Ker…appa?>

Yes?

<Just do your best. We’ll figure it out together.> How many times had she wished someone would speak those words to her? Now she got to say it to someone else, and somehow, she’d make sure it was true.