Chapter 216: Chapter 214: Plans

It took a while for Traiana’s words to get through my brain, but when they did and what she said clicked together, I flat out bawled: “What?!”

“Traiana’s t...!” Stella, no less shaken by the revelation, staggered, just a word from uttering a cuss that certainly wouldn’t sit well with Traiana. “I mean, my tits! Shit!...are you serious, ma’am? I...the system is mentioned across eras. I’ve never heard or read that it... wasn’t. If...if it suddenly appeared...s-something like that would have to be r-recorded, wouldn’t it?”

Since Traiana remained silent, only watching Stella cough, she glanced at me, looking to confirm what she knew about the world was right. Little did she know I was the wrong person for that. “I would think so, Stella,” I said, frantically thinking about it, searching for an answer to give her. “...but it might be possible... as far as I know, not much is known about the origin of labyrinths either.”

“Not much? More like nothing....oh, shit!” Stella cursed as realization flashed across her eyes, and she turned paler than she already was. “Are you...did you create the system, ma’am?”

“As I said, I’m not a scholar or a magus. I was and am a mere warrior, wielding a blade to stop the wrath of enemies falling on the weak. I was not behind the birth of such a creation, little one.”

“That’s not w-what I meant...” Stella tried to argue, but her voice broke, considerably shaken by the revelation as her mind was thrown in disarray. No wonder there. If what Traiana was saying was true, and she didn’t seem to be lying, it must have shaken everything Stella knew about the world. Something I was no stranger to and could easily relate to how she must have felt. My world shook to its foundations, too, when I was abducted by Fae to this world and found myself with a system in my head and real magic around.

With the shock of that still vivid in my mind, I knelt down beside Stella and gripped her shoulder firmly, a gesture that Deckard had used to give me reassurance and ease of mind from time to time in the hope of bringing her at least a little bit of that. And it worked, or so it seemed, as she stopped shaking so much and put her hand on mine, squeezing it back. Her eyes, though, lost focus as she frantically searched her mind for something to refute Traiana’s claim.

“Is that really true, ma’am? There was no system in your time?” I asked instead of her.

Traiana nodded. “While it was not supposed to be a secret, it seems to have been forgotten nonetheless. However, if you still doubt my words, the world around you should be proof enough; all you have to do is look around.”

I did. I looked around, and as before, all I saw were rocks, woods, and thick black smoke in the sky. Nothing to indicate the absence of the system. ‘How was one supposed to know anyway...?!’ I stopped mid-thought as I looked back at Traiana. She just stood there in her glory, waiting for us to figure it out. But that was it; no notification telling me she was a [Fucking Heroic Warrior: lvl million] popped into my mind.

I didn’t think much of it at first simply because, as with the Idleaf’s spirit, I saw shit with her apparition too. To me, her self standing before us just fit into the same category that the system was unable to assess, not without the proper skills, at least. However, now knowing about the absence of the system in this echo of time put it in a new light. I immediately turned my gaze to Stella, finding her dark eyes fixed on me, horror in them hidden behind tears. “Korra, I can’t see you.”

Contrary to what her horrified expression suggested, Stella didn’t suddenly go blind. What she was talking about was my status; she no longer saw me as [Deviant]. And it went the other way around, too. 

“Neither do I.” No matter how I looked at her, nothing popped into my mind telling me about her class and level.

“B-but that doesn’t make sense... I can still ac-access the system,” Stella muttered under her breath, biting her lip so hard that it bled. She was right, though. It made no sense. I, too, could still see my status screen and descriptions of each skill in my mind. So, was Traiana lying? No, I didn’t think so. The woman seemed far too honorable to do such a thing. If anything, she hid the truth in her words or outright refused to tell it, but lying didn’t seem to be in her nature.

In the end, it was she who, seeing our bafflement, answered the questions swirling in our minds. “That’s because part of the system is ingrained into your mind, little ones. Think of the system as an archive of books and yourself and others as said books. Without the system, you only see blank covers, but your pages are still full. If you open your book, you can still read your own tale; however, you won’t find any guide to hold your hand, let alone a librarian giving you access to other tales.”

“W-what?!” Stella blurted out, the sheer lack of understanding in her eyes. “That’s bulls...” I squeezed her shoulder harder to stop her from saying something she might regret, even though I had trouble understanding what Traiana was trying to tell us. She hissed in pain, but it did the trick. “C-come on Korra, that...” she coughed. “...that can’t be true...I can still use my skills...”

I had never seen her like this, so desperate, so vulnerable, looking to me for help, to reassure her that everything was as it should be and that what Traiana said was a lie. Yet I found myself unable to do so, stumped over what to do, even though I’ve wished so many times that someone would reach out to me when my world was falling apart as hers.

Eventually, though, I swallowed my own self-pity and banished all those dreadful memories, sat down next to her, and hugged her with everything I had: arms, wings, tail.

“W-what are you...?!”

...doing? I didn’t know myself, but it felt right, and it was what she needed - what I needed. 

“Would you s-stop...this is embarrassing!”

It sure was. “Then why are you crying?”

“I don’t know...!”

Pressing her tighter against me, I merely gave a silent nod and waited for her to stop trembling. 

“...this is insane...”

“I know, Stella.” These were not just empty words of comfort. Even I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of someone being able to create the system. After all, it wasn’t just something confined to limited space, like labyrinths, but affecting the entire planet.

“...insane, I tell you...” It might have seemed like a denial mumble, but clarity returned to her voice. “...why would anyone do that?”

That was a good question I didn’t give much thought to. “To help people?” 

“By making them d-dependent on the system? Do you know w-what would happen if this...this...this systemless spread in Castiana, or the Empire?”

Well, if their reaction would be anywhere near hers, whom, against all odds, I considered a strong person: “...the whole Sahal would be plunged into chaos.”

“Yeah...,” she breathed out and looked at Traiana, the blame and anger in her tearful eyes. “Why would you do s-something like that?”

“Not me, little one,” Traiana reminded her, unfazed by her outburst. “Not even the work of humans, although some were involved in shaping the idea which was not to make people dependent on the system as you claim they have become but to guide their abilities through the skills and classes, show them their possibilities, expand their potential.”

“P-potential? You serious? What potential when it can all be taken away so easily?”

Traiana smirked, glancing from her to me and back, as if she wanted to see if we were both really that dumb. “If you’re talking about this place, you’re very forgetful, little one. Didn’t I tell you that bringing the past into the present is no easy feat? So, should you come across someone who’s capable of that, you’d better hope it’s on friendly terms. Besides, have your skills really been taken away when you can still use them?”

As much as I hated to admit it, good point. Despite the supposed lack of, say, a global system, I could still use my skills, and so could Stella, albeit not quite as well as she would have liked.

“...barely...” Stella hissed and tried to use her auras again, only to curse a moment later. She still had a hard time controlling them.

Traiana, standing proud and upright so far, went down on one knee to level our height and look us in the eye. “Listen well, little ones. I don’t know if something went wrong - it wouldn’t be strange for such a complex task - but the system was just meant to be a guide, not a crutch to lean on. Be that as it may, it seems that you learned to walk with it, but you never threw the crutch away. So stop whining about how hard it is to walk when all you have to do is remember how to stand on your own two feet.” Her voice, soft and soothing at first, gradually turned strong and deep with the cadence of an army instructor - her every word a slap in our faces.

“You want us to stand up?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew how stupid they were. Luckily, it only made Traiana chuckle.

“So, y-you’re saying I can r... regain control of my skills?” Stella asked, now considerably calmer. The brusque way Traiana spoke to us brought her focus back. “...that I didn’t lose... anything?”

“How can you lose what you didn’t have? Or better yet, you're missing what wasn't yours in the first place.” Traiana answered bluntly about her skill control. For a moment there, I thought Stella was going to snap at her again, pissed off at what the system and its loss meant. Yet, she didn’t. Whatever qualms she felt about it, she swallowed as she lost herself in thought.

“Stats,” Stella said suddenly after a moment of silence. “I still h-have my stats. I’m not b-back to my 16-year-old self.”

“Of course, you’re not. You have grown up since then, guided by the system.”

I don’t know if Stella came to the same realization as I did, but from the look in her eyes, it seemed so. Ever since I was on Eleaden, I’ve found it strange that the stats didn’t work instantly as I would have expected - one point into the strength, and you’re stronger right then. No, as Deckard explained to me, it just opened up my potential; increased the limit of what I was able to achieve. My body, with my input, then slowly grew into that potential, in a sense guided by the system, as Traiana said.

“The same is true of skills, isn’t it?” I asked.

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Traiana, a woman of the past, nodded. “Anyone can learn to hold a sword, cook a fish, or mine a stone on their own but guided by someone who already has that knowledge; you can do better. As far as I know, that was the idea behind the system, an archive of knowledge of those before you, available to all.”

Put like that, it sounded like a very virtuous idea where the strong and experienced ones decided to share their knowledge with others. I was sure that in this day and age, no matter if it was on Eleaden or Earth, few would be willing to do that, to share something they had spent their lives working on and make it easier for the next generation.

Nevertheless, it did mean one thing: there had been a [Deviant of Humanity] in the past. Someone had already blazed the trail before me, sharing with me what they have learned across the ages. Realizing all that, I lowered my head. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Me too, t-thank you. I didn’t realize...” Stella paused as Traiana raised her hand.

“No need to thank me, little ones. Especially when whether I contributed to the archive of knowledge is not certain. I embarked on my dream here before the plan for the system came to fruition.”

“Wait...so, the system has nothing to do with labyrinths?”

“No, little Guardian. Facing extinction, many plans have been made to face the end. Many remained only in thought, some failed to sprout from their seeds, and only a few survived growing pains - one of them labyrinths and another the system.”

“T-to face it? I thought the system was meant to help the next generations,” Stella argued, to which Traiana nodded. “That was one of the thoughts.”

“And the other?”

“To bind the enemy to the same rules.”

“”What?"" 

Traiana chuckled at our shared outcry. “It is so, little ones. The wrath we faced went beyond the rules known to us. In simple terms, the flame we faced did not behave like the flame we knew, while water did not behave like water. And so, in the face of that, the idea was born - to bind the enemy to the same rules to which we would be subjected.”

I was lost for words, and so was Stella, it seemed. As ridiculous as it sounded, it was brilliant, in a sense, a way to deal with cheaters and at the same time, give the next generation a chance. 

“Have you not imparted your knowledge to the enemy that way?” Stella, still in my embrace, asked about the issue that arose with doing so, taking my breath away. She was right.

“Many have argued that, others then that the sharing of knowledge will go in both ways. The system’s existence at your age speaks volumes about whose argument won in the end.”

Yeah, there was no doubt about it, but the implication of that didn’t sit well with me. “Is there any way to tell which skill or class is which? Which side does it come from?”

“I would imagine not. The idea was that the knowledge should be impartial, but I can’t tell you for sure. As I already mentioned to you, I wasn’t there when the system was devised. However, if you are only concerned about your skills or class coming from the knowledge of enemies I have faced, you can put your fears aside. It matters not who holds the blade, but what you do with it.”

Sure, the [Thief] class didn’t make one immediately bad, but it didn’t take away the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that [Deviant of Humanity] could have come from those Traiana faced. “Is there anyone who might know, ma’am? Whether the knowledge in the system is actually - you know - impartial?” 

“Of course, those who were there,” Traiana said with a guileful smile on her lips. “Though I would imagine that if any of the mortal races were involved, they didn’t live to see your days. If I were you, I’d try asking the one you’re guarding, little Guardian.” 

Of course! The World Trees were already on Eleaden by then. But… “Idleaf!” The tree rascal must have been worried sick about me. With the crushing guilt on my mind, I sent mana into the rune place on my side again, calling her - once again without success. 

Glad to be still hugging Stella at a time when my own weakness and incompetence struck me, I shifted my focus back to the issue at hand: the system and the World Trees. “Will they not be bound by the same oaths as to the creation of labyrinths, though?” 

“Certainly. If you ask them about the creation of the system itself, you won’t get the answer you seek. However, the reason and purpose of it should not be a secret, just like that of the labyrinths.”

“Which is?” asked Stella.

“Obviously forgotten as well,” Traiana sighed, the disappointment evident in her voice.

“No, we k-know it was for our training, to prepare us for... something, but it’s just guesswork, bits and pieces p-put together from the Heralds’ riddles,” Stella rushed to save the situation, which only sent her into a coughing fit. “...n-no records survive from your time, ma’am.”

“I see; that’s unfortunate. Well, you’re not far from the truth. The early task of labyrinths, however, was that of fortresses against the tides of the beasts.”

“The beasts speak of them as the dens of men.” I threw in my bit of knowledge. 

“Not a wrong way to look at them. Labyrinths were created to feed thousands, if not millions. They were meant to be the last bastions of civilization and, at the same time, a place to train and hone the skills and resolve of people willing to face the horrors outside.”

“And those horrors were?” Stella tried again to pry an answer out of her. “For the last time, little one, this is not something for you to bear.”

I was tempted to argue that knowing what was coming would help us face it, but that seemed to be something Traiana was unwilling to tell us. “How many floors do labyrinths have?” I asked instead.

“As much as they need, little Guardian.”

“Do they have a bottom?” Stella asked.

“They do.”

“What’s there?”

“The truth.”

I looked at Stella, seeing in her eyes the same understanding I had come to - a truth that was too heavy for us to bear - we seemed to have hit a line that Traiana wasn’t willing to cross.

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to know how many floors we have left to the bottom?” I ask, hoping on the slim chance Traiana might reveal more to us.

“And what good would that do you? Would you try harder knowing that just around the next corner is the end? You won’t get that kind of grace in the face of hordes of beasts, so you either have the resolve you need to reach the bottom, or you don’t,” Traiana said in a tone clearly warning us not to try to pry further and stood up. “That’s enough, little ones. I spoke too much, burdening your minds with the knowledge I thought was common. Rather than trying to learn more, you should think about my words already spoken; take them in. Then brush up on your skills and get your bravery back. You’ll need one as well as the other.”

“What for?” Stella dared to ask, even though I felt her shudder in my embrace at Traiana’s ominous words as much as I did.

“Have you given up on finding a way out of this forgotten time already?”

“”No!""

“Then did you think you’d find your way out by sitting here?”

No, but I feared what Traiana was implying. 

Seeing us shaking our heads, she smiled. “Then prepare yourselves, little ones. You have a long journey ahead of you and hopefully one where you don’t lose your mind to the time.”

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