Chapter 3: Episode 1, Act 2: Point After

Episode 1, Act 2: Point After

I'm not sure what I expected. After that experience...  It was a shock to my system. When you discover you're secretly magic, aren't you supposed to feel good about yourself? That you're a head above the rest, the cream of the crop... all I felt was a dull ache throbbing in my chest. My heart burned, and I was coughing out plumes of smoke...

"Interesting... Human biology adapts to conceptual magic like that?" At some point, the toaster had pulled out another scroll of paper... She was taking notes. I wanted to yell, wanted to scream at her... but only smoke escaped my lips. "Well, this is valuable data... I wonder what else you can give me?"

I reached out for her... reached out, maybe hoping I could strangle her, fling her off the rooftop... instead. Instead, I saw through her eyes. I saw a human shape, underneath layers of grime and filth... panting, eyes half lidded and reaching out, weakly...

I saw what she saw. A test subject. A toy to play with, to discard when she was done, a foundation upon which she would build a better future... a bucket of ice was dumped on my emotions, and I calmed down. I had a new goal. I no longer wanted her to die.

I wanted her to suffer.

But I knew that the me of now could do nothing to the slime... the toaster. I couldn't even beat a toaster. Not... not like this. I stood up-- shakily at first, I could tell. I felt the slime's eyes drift across my body... wondering what I could do now that my first transformation was complete. Wondering if I would draw my powers forth...

I didn't give her an answer, not then. I just walked right over to the ladder on the roof and lifted it, high above my head... I could feel it. My strength was amplified. I was a twelve year old girl, holding a steel ladder aloft in the air with a single hand.

"...you said I could kill the monster." More smoke escaped from my lips. I was barely recognizable as human... so coated in filth and grime as I was. The only lights still shining... my golden eyes. "...tell me how."

 

=-⏱️-=

 

"Holy crab. You were so... cooool! Even as a kid!" Olivia's eyes sparkled, silver diamonds reflecting the sunlight. Silver eyes... Olivia was a Historia, through and through. That's how you could tell-- the Proof of Divinity was in the eyes.

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"And you've got golden eyes, so you're a Retcon!" Olivia added. "They're really beautiful, Madeline. I'm a little jealous." She gazed at me with such honesty... urgh. I don't know how to respond to her. I keep telling her that I'm no hero, but... every time I look through her eyes, I see something I'm not. I'm some deific being to her... a woman who can do no wrong.

I want to shake her so badly. Tell her that she's wrong, that she has no idea what I'm like... what I'm capable of.

 

=-⏱️-=

 

"We don't have much time to figure out what you're capable of." Malty toddled behind me. She'd managed to throw herself off the roof, and was following me like a slug as I moved inexorably towards my demise. I could hear metal scraping against the ground as she slopped and squirmed against the pavement. A toaster snail. Not something you see every day.

"We do know two things for sure. You're strong... strong enough to hold that steel ladder on your shoulder, like a bat." Malty continued, eyeing my shoulder. I could see it too. No need to stare. "And you're durable. You fell from the rooftop without a scratch on you."

Not quite true. I felt a dull ache in my ankles... I don't think they were meant to twist that way on impact. My sneakers made wet squelches as I walked-- the grime had soaked thoroughly into the soles. Another gross thing to deal with after I thoroughly body this monster.

"We could open up your [Character Sheet]. Learn more information that way." Malty suggested, her slime running over a gum-soaked penny... the coin was the only thing left behind, I noted, watching the rubber dissolve in her jam.

I thought about the words-- [Character Sheet]. Plenty of screens opened up before me... detailing things I didn't need to know. I parsed through it, looking for the relevant bits. My skills, my talents... I dug through the sheet until the words came to my mind, bidden by my request.

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