Chapter 79: Chapter Seventy Eight: Tweak Sensory Input Levels

So, having decided she knew how to save the world, Qube pondered her next step. The first thing she would have to do would be to better understand the Evil Emperor, and his hypothetical guiding darkness.

 

Although she had no proof that the Evil Emperor had an Evil version of herself, it just felt… right. Like something had connected in her mind, and she sensed the intrinsic truth of it. After all, how could one rule the world without someone to help them? And, given his Mage Advisor was off on an adventure, the Evil Emperor’s right hand couldn’t be Definitely Bad Guy. There was no way the Chosen One would be able to survive without her for anything like the length of time that Definitely Bad Guy had been traveling with them.

 

Also, she still hadn’t spoken to Definitely Bad Guy about the whole ‘devs’ thing. And he might have more information about the Evil Emperor, and any potential Dark Prophecy or Evil Qube.

 

So, as the Chosen One reached the hatch in the ceiling, she shifted position in anticipation, ready to step out onto the next floor-cloud and regroup.

 

Instead, the instant the Chosen One passed through the hatch, a terrible hurricane tried to suck them up. The Chosen One snapped shut his wings, but was only saved from being torn to pieces by grabbing onto a thick vine protruding from the floor. He latched onto it, Qube clinging to his neck as the tremendous force of the hurricane nearly ripped them apart. He shouted something, but she couldn’t hear what, and then they entered the eye of the hurricane. The vine, which had been stretched to its limit, went slack, and the Chosen One landed heavily.

 

“Ow. Ow, ow, ow!” he exclaimed, “I swear they’ve made it hurt more. What the [fiddle] is wrong with them?” He turned slightly, trying to look at Qube over his shoulder. “You ok —” he started, then cut himself off. “It’s back! Hold on!”

 

The end of the eye was approaching them. The Chosen One looked around and there: at the very edge of the calm, there was another thick vine. He ran, Qube desperately holding on, and reached the vine just in time. As soon as he gripped it, the hurricane overtook them, and yanked them off the ground.

 

Because her hands were around his neck, Qube could feel the Chosen One’s throat working, and deduced that he was, in all probability, yelling at the wind. She was proven correct when, a lifetime later, the eye reappeared and they were once again dropped.

 

“— worse than the Water Temple! I’m going to kill them!”

 

“Chosen One! Please threaten the powers that be later, we need to run!” Qube shouted directly into his ear.

 

He ran. He just made it to another vine when the storm overtook them again, and the world turned upside down. As the wind tried to tear them apart, Qube could only hope that the others weren’t already swirling somewhere around them, taken by the hurricane. She felt like her skin was being sandpapered off, and she could swear she was bleeding.

 

The storm passed, and the Chosen One instantly dashed to a shadowed hole in the side of the wall-cloud and almost fell through it.

 

The silence was nearly deafening after the roar of the wind. The Chosen One flopped down onto the ground, panting. Qube sprang up, and sprinted to the doorway, only to almost run directly into the rest of the party. All of them looked about as haggard as Qube felt, but they were all there, safe, sound, and not sucked up into the storm.

 

“Thank the Words you’re all safe!” Qube cried, and tried to hug all of them at once. She felt part of her arm pass through Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, and Squiggles instantly clamped onto her face. Sewer Bard accepted the hug, looking mildly surprised, while Definitely Bad Guy dodged her, turning bright red.

 

“Are you lot having a love-fest?” the Chosen One asked, turning his head and looking at them. “Without me? I’m hurt. Also, I’m actually hurt. Heal, please.”

 

“Oh, of course!” Qube said. “[Lesser Heal]!” Her mana wrapped around the Chosen One, sinking into him and smoothing away his abrasions. Her own aches and pains she ignored; until she increased her mana pool she had to ration her spells. “Was that enough?” she asked, as she helped him up.

 

“Sure,” he said, somewhat grumpily. “I just feel like someone peeled off all my skin and poured salt on me. This was a fun experience. I enjoyed this.”

 

“I shouldn’t have thought it would be fun,” Qube said dubiously. The Chosen One rolled his eyes, and instead turned his attention to looking around the room.

 

The room itself was relatively sparse. There were no platforms, thank goodness, or Temple employees. In fact, they were three rooms deep into this Temple, and they had yet to see any other living creatures. It was a new record! Did it mean something? Or was it just that nothing could survive in such a hostile environment? 

 

A sudden bolt of lightning stabbed through the air, illuminating a series of vents in the ground. The Chosen One sighed.

 

“All right, let’s navigate this,” he said, turning his back to Qube and spreading his wings.

 

“It looks like it will require quite a bit of dexterity,” Qube said diplomatically. “Maybe you should go on ahead, and I’ll get one of the others to give me a ride? Just to help you out?”

 

The Chosen One’s wings snapped shut and he swivelled to look at her.

 

“Explain,” he ordered. Qube, flustered, tried to scramble for an explanation.

 

“I just wanted to, uh, not weigh you down at all. Because the last few have seemed like they have been difficult and I just… thought I could use this opportunity to maybe bond with some of our other party members!” Qube said in her most convincing manner. 

 

She wasn’t entirely sure why she didn’t want to tell the Chosen One about her theory; she just knew that she wanted to be a lot more certain before she brought it to his attention. Especially because he might have felt obligated to report it to the devs, and she didn’t want them thinking poorly of her intelligence if she turned out to be totally and utterly wrong.

 

Given the devs were looking to her to determine the fate of her world, it seemed a good idea to give off at least the appearance of competence. It didn’t feel right to conceal yet another thing from her childhood best friend, but she consoled herself with the reflection that, if she was right, it would be key to success.

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She just had to very carefully not think about how many times in history someone had thought that, only to have it blow up in their face.

 

“So I thought for this next room, I would get a lift with Definitely Bad Guy?” she part asked, part stated. The Chosen One shot the Mage an incredulous look. Definitely Bad Guy once again turned bright red, matching his hair and eyes. The Hero looked, if anything, even more horrified by the Mage’s reaction. Glancing back at Qube, though, he visibly calmed himself down.

 

“Sure, that’s a perfectly normal thing,” he said, sounding only slightly strangled. “So normal that you would pick the party weirdo who somehow, against all logic, appears to have caught feelings. Yes. This is more logical than anything. I would never dream of attempting to interfere with you pursuing what you think best.”

 

“Chosen One, are you well?” Qube asked, now seriously worried. The Chosen One sounded like he was trying to give a speech.

 

“I’m perfectly fine,” the Chosen One said. “I’m just… we’ll talk about this later, yeah? I have some questions. About unrelated things.”

 

“Of course, I’m always happy to talk to you, Chosen One!” Qube said as reassuringly as she could. This seemed to soothe her friend, although she still caught him giving Definitely Bad Guy a few worried looks.

 

Perhaps the Chosen One was concerned that she and Definitely Bad Guy were falling in love, and the Mage would succeed in luring her away from her mission? Impulsively, Qube reached out and grabbed the Hero’s hands.

 

“Don’t worry,” she said quietly. “My number one commitment is always to our quest.”

 

For some reason, this didn’t seem to help. Instead the Chosen One shot her an even more worried look, and shook off her hands.

 

“Sure, whatever. But first, I think we need to all rest. It’s been a long day. You lot set up camp.” Setting up camp only took a few seconds, thanks to the magical tents they had brought, and then the Chosen One ushered them all together, even Squiggles.

 

“Right,” he said, before pointing at each party member one by one. “You. [Sleep]. You. [Sleep],” until there was only Qube and Definitely Bad Guy left. The Chosen One hesitated, and then pointed at Qube. “You. [Sleep], please.”

 

Qube was suddenly exhausted and immediately lay down on one of the bed rolls, and went to sleep. As she closed her eyes she saw the Chosen One turn to Definitely Bad Guy and put his hand on the Mage’s shoulder.

 

Qube dreamed. She seemed to have gotten the hang of it, thanks to last time. The world seemed different from her last dream, though. Less solid, with a hundred thousand mathematical equations attached to each breath she took.

 

“Hey, Hot-Hands. Nope, hated that.” The Chosen One’s voice twisted into her dream. “Look. I just wanted to check in and see how you were going.”

 

“I am not going anywhere,” Definitely Bad Guy replied cautiously.

 

She couldn’t seem to open her eyes, only hear this strange conversation between the dream version of Chosen One and Definitely Bad Guy.

 

“It’s an expression, man; get it together,” the Chosen One said scornfully. “Anyway, this isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to ask you how you were going with the whole ‘secretly working for the Evil Emperor’ thing.”

 

“I fear you must be confused,” Definitely Bad Guy said stuffily. “I am secretly working for the Exiled Prince and Princess. It is the Evil Emperor whom I am working against.”

 

“Look, I don’t care who you are or are not working for,” the Chosen One said, further solidifying the strangeness of Qube’s dream. Imagine not caring that one of your closest companions was secretly working for a force of Evil! Dreams really were funny. “I care about whether or not you’re going to be on our side at the end. Because what I really don’t want is you getting yourself killed by the Evil Emperor for betraying him at the very last second, or deciding to side with the Evil Emperor and then I have to kill you.”

 

“I assure you, I am fully dedicated to the cause,” Definitely Bad Guy sounded, if anything, even stiffer than before. Pretty soon the mathematical formulas that made up his muscle movements would flip to zero, and he would freeze in place.

 

“Cool, cool,” the Chosen One said. There was a moment of silence, and Qube wondered if the dream was ending. “Because I don’t know what would happen if you went rogue.”

 

“Even if I were to fall, I am starting to suspect it would only be a temporary setback in your quest,” Definitely Bad Guy said, with a thread of admiration.

 

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” the Chosen One replied, somewhat sharply. “But if you’re planning on betraying the group or whatever dumb script is in your head, I suggest you overcome it. Or let me know, and I’ll break the [snacks] out of it.”

 

Definitely Bad Guy didn’t reply. After the silence stretched out uncomfortably, she heard the Chosen One sigh.

 

“Think about it. If you can. Now, [Sleep].” Qube heard the Mage Advisor hit a bedroll and immediately go still. After another sigh, she heard the Chosen One lie down on his own bedroll, and then the dream ended.

 

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