Chapter 14: Silver and Ash

For the next weeks, Charlotte spent her time alone in her room with the occasional visit from Issac or Silla, she sometimes go to Vanessa too, but still no signs of Athen. 

The Reverie situation was resolved as well. There was nothing much to say about it, Charlotte just put the substance into a suspicious jar, Silla said it was made from Satanic Glass, the girl was not sure how it was made but she did not want anything to do with the pervert.

Everyday was pretty uneventful, but Charlotte enjoyed the quite with her books. She brought more from the library. Learning the world from books was fun.

Though, those days still have to end.

Now that her arm has fully healed for quite some time with the help of Reverie. So she trained herself, by doing acrobatics, boxing, dancing, and meditating. From what Silla told her, Athen will be hard to fight against, her Hell Armaments is the biggest challenge Charlotte will have to face, especially when she knew next to nothing about the abilities of those weapons.

If Survive was still with her, Charlotte might have an upper edge with it's ability to sense the world around her. But that is not an option anymore.

I need to be reckless...

Treading unknown territory, facing a higher power than hers. Somehow, that made Charlotte excited. She wants to find out more about Athen but she could not without meeting her for almost a month.

While at it, Charlotte wanted to practice her pain tolerance. So she occasionally took off her necklace, when sleeping. The results was as expected, her pillow was too soft, her bed was not hard enough, it was uncomfortable so she slept on the floor for most of the time, and got back pain. Charlotte developed a habit of cracking her joints in the morning, it felt so pleasing.

Now, Charlotte just woke up from another dreamless sleep. She found it strange that she could not dream, she just sleep and wake up.

Again, she cracked her joints as her first action when wake up. The back pain was getting to her again.

Next was taking a morning shower. It felt good, especially how her hair lost all of it roughness. The refreshment from the hot shower also factored in, it wakes her up completely.

And by the time she finished showering, breakfast was already delivered. Today's menu are sandwiches, and a cup of orange juice. But before eating, Charlotte went to get her clothes.

Opening the closet, which was now filled with not just white clothes but also dresses and others item of clothing. Since she learned how to use her phone, Charlotte went on many shopping sprees of whatever caught her interest, eventually to the point of having Issac set a limit on how much she could buy in a month as to not damage the funds of the organization.

Today, Charlotte chose to wear a black buttoned shirt, under it is a sport bra, she found this combination to be very comfortable. Now for something under, the girl picked out black panties, as much as she dislike wearing them, Silla told her it was important for girls to wear it, and a black skirt at a length just above her knees. And she did not forget her fedora.

With her clothes for today, Charlotte can finally sit down and enjoys her meal. As much as she dislike the fact that the foods were made by Silla, Charlotte still eat it without much complaint, or any at all.

There was two triangular sandwiches, one filled with half a patty and vegetables, the other had egg salad as the filling. Charlotte have had these before, only the fillings were different so she wonders how the food will taste?

Taking a bite of the sandwich with the patty, Charlotte can tell instantly it was savory, the saltiness of the meat blends well with the sourness from the tomato slices, as too the lettuce's bland taste balancing the whole meal out.

"This is good" was the only words Charlotte can describe the taste with. Like usual, she is not exactly good as describing things.

Finishing the sandwich in silent, she took a sip of the orange juice. Charlotte winced, she felt this was a little sour to her taste, but the sugar kicked in right after, enhanced by the uncomfortable sour taste it relieved her tongue. Taking the chance, she took a bite out of the second sandwich.

Unlike the savory taste of the first one, this was creamy. Not speaking anything, Charlotte quickly devoured the meal. She could not control herself, it was too good, especially the egg white chunks, they were very good.

With a winced, Charlotte finished her drink in one gulp. Once again reaffirming her dislike for sour drinks she discovered just now.

Hehe... this would've been much better with Survive~ hurry up and get out of here so you can regain your powers~~

Can it?

Absolutely, the embodiment of humanity's will to survive this world full of conflict is not to be scoff at, my dearest~ 

Can you tell me about the rest of my power?

It stayed quite, not answering Charlotte at all. Though Charlotte found it quite rude, she let the Devil in her chest (literally) off the hook.

Leaving the table, she did a bit of stretching, making sure her body is flexible. Then, she took a book from the stack under her desk, without looking so she can surprise herself.

'Rules of Nature'

Carrying the book to her bed, Charlotte put on the pair of headphones delivered just yesterday. Peace and quite, Charlotte may have grown to enjoy this. 

=0=0=0=

The book was interesting, Charlotte learned a lot from it. 

The laws of the jungle... seems interesting...

A giggle came out of her, which made Charlotte automatically stop it. Why did I laugh?

To Charlotte, there was nothing funny about the rule of the strong. Yet she could not stop herself from laughing at such concept.

Why?

Because it is ridiculous! Hehe, to human the rules are much, much different. A life can easily be taken by a single trigger with no repercussion, that is the human way.

The human way...

Hehe, let me teach you about it. The human mind is special, it has something none other species inhabit the same world as them have. They are illogical creatures. They act not on instinct, but on emotions. Lovely, lovely emotions. They like what pleased them, they hate what displeased them.

Charlotte think back to Silla, that woman displeased her.  

Hehe, don't think about doing anything to that woman, she is far more dangerous than you would think. 

 

*ping*

 

Her phone rang, taking away her attention from Reverie, it was a message from someone called "General Manager". Charlotte took her phone and opened up the message.

You are reading story Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss at novel35.com

 

[This is General Manager David Yamabuki,

Please be advise of what you eat and drink. There is an unknown plague not even Nightingale can cure, it is current only in Project Darwin's area so we had quarantined the place along with all the researchers and subjects. 

If you had contact with any of the staffs at Project Darwin in the pass seven days, please seek out Nightingale at the General Medical Bay.

That is all,

David Yamabuki]

 

Charlotte instantly knew it was her Reverie that caused it. Should I find more about their conditions? It would be interesting.

Hopping off her bed, Charlotte straighten her dress out. She was going to get someone, since her assistant is not here—

The door to her room abruptly opened, Athen walked in with an awkward look on her face, clearly avoiding looking at Charlotte directly. Even without Survive, Charlotte can tell Athen have something to say from the way she fidgets around with her feet stamping around and how she hid her hands behind her back.

There was an emotion rising in Charlotte's chest. It felt hollow, yet it burns painfully even with the pendant's power. Charlotte did not understand it, but it felt uncomfortable. 

Away from her feelings, noticing Athen was unusually silent, Charlotte spoke first.

"Athen."

And she responded, "Charlotte... look, you must be upset that I left you with that... woman..."

Of course, Silla is scary. And upset? Is that what I am feeling?

"Charlotte, I'm sorry that I was away all this time. I couldn't come to term with your choice of dealing with the people that tormented you... I know they deserved punishment, but I didn't want it to be dealt with your powers."

Time wise, Charlotte interacts with Athen the least. Yet she felt most comfortable with her the most. Charlotte knows Athen truly care for her own well being, unlike Silla who only sees her as a plaything, or Issac who is a bit suspicious. She does feel upset by the sudden leave, but not enough to feel more. Hm, I should ask where she left to.

"Athen, where did you go?"

Athen, still dodging Charlotte's stares, scratched the back of her head, "Erm, I was cleaning up scraps. Some older generation robots need to be scrap down, that bastard Issac thought it was a great idea to use them as my stress relieve."

"For the pass few weeks, all you have done is fighting?"

"Eh, I would call it a chore more than fighting.", she shrugged, seemingly going back to her old self again, "Anyhow, when will we fight?"

That reminds me...

"Maybe after my checkup, with Silla..."

"Your what?! What the fuck did that woman do?!!"

Athen rushed over at shocking speed. Her hands touches all over Charlotte's body, flipping her dress, digging through her hair, and even stripping her naked, looking for something. 

"Athen...", Charlotte said with disappointment in her voice. She read about this scenario before in one of her books, reading it already made Charlotte feels uncomfortable but experiencing it brings a whole new level.

Athen quickly put back Charlotte's clothes on, stepping away from her a meter, "I was making sure that bitch didn't do anything to you! That scheming hellspawn is not to be trusted!!"

Athen sighed, "Silla... ugh, calling her name leaves a bad taste in my mouth... look, I don't want to leave any bad impression of her, she already did it on her own, but be careful around her. Who know, she might draw a symbol on your back or pull you into Hell for shits and giggles."

Silla really is dangerous... Charlotte thought while sitting down on her bed. Athen followed, still complaining.

"Heck, I have no fucking clue why she would work here, she have her own fortune and don't need to be in this shithole. Or why did Issac, that crafty bastard, chose to let her in."

"Her knowledge?", Charlotte pointed out, from the amount of time she has spoken to Silla, much to her reluctant, the researcher proved to be well versed in almost all subjects.

Athen's eyes lit up, as if she just got a relevation, "Holy shit! That's right! The risk involving her doesn't outweigh the benefits she brings!!", she gritted her teeth, "Fuck! What are they up to?!"

"Can you not just... ask them?"

"Fuck no! They would just give me the silent treatment, or move me to another department!"

"Oh."

Athen sighed, taking out her phone to look at the date, "We got a bit off topic, back to our fight. Hm, February Second, which day do you have the checkup?"

"On the Fifth.", Charlotte looked at the schedule on her phone. The schedule was quite empty, marking the occasional visits from Issac or Silla.

"Then on the Seventh? Is that okay with you?"

"It's okay.", Charlotte nodded.

"Then alright", Athen stood up, walking towards the door, "See you tomorrow, I got some more work to do."

Before Athen left the door, Charlotte saw a small smile on her faint. Athen was happy for some reason unknown to Charlotte. Why was she happy about simply meeting me? 

After hearing the door shut, Charlotte sighed and laid down on her bed. Looking at the ceiling, she entered deep thought.

These things keep on stirring up in me, why can I not ask about them? Questions I want to know the answer for, why is it that I cannot simply... push further...