Chapter 15: Chap. 13 : Winding Back, Down, and Up

Zoemie woke up the next day very annoyed and still quite tired. "More fucking nightmares. When will it fucking end ?" She shook her head, trying to calm herself down, and sighed.

Zoemie grumbled. She was tired, and sleepy, and wanted nothing more than to stay in bed... so that's what she did, keeping her eyes closed until the feeling of... crustiness is how she'd describe it went away. In no hurry anyways, so...

Once she felt better, Zoemie opened her eyes and considered. "First thing... eat, I guess. Then wash myself. Then we'll see..." She then threw off the blanket with no small effort before sitting to the side of the bed, staying there montionlessly for a while.

She then managed to push on her legs, getting up and starting to walk to the kitchen, before teleporting there outright as it was faster and she didn't wanna bother.

After Zoemie ate breakfast while deep in thought about various games, and finished its subsequent routine, she thought. She could start to investigate time magic ? Sounds worthwhile...but fuck I can't be arsed... That or gaming. But first the bath.

Zoemie was tired. But she did need to wash herself, no ? Else she'd stink. And that wouldn't do, right ? She lied in bed for a while, before teleporting some clothes from her pantry to the bathroom and teleporting herself without her pajamas inside the bath.

"Convenient." she mumbled as she started to enjoy her bath. Magic was convenient. She could teleport, conjure anything she wanted without having to ask for it, clean her room in a jiffy, and that was the big stuff. Especially useful when you have jack shit for elbow grease like me. Zoemie did not understand how normal people could get so much done.

She definitely needed to look into using it more. She had wanted to investigate time magic to return home... but at the same time she wasn't sure she wanted to lose the sheer utility it granted. I'll look into it anyways. Even if not to go home, at least to prevent fuckups ever again, since unlike normal persons I need at least that much.

She shook her head, and soaked in relative peace for a while longer, before leaving her bath, drying herself off, and dressing up in a shirt and skirt. She then sat on her bed, deep in thought. While unsure about what to do next, Zoemie had a realization as she looked at her fingers.

Gotta trim my nails. She grumbled. On one hand, it was a bit annoying and slow... but if she didn't she'd cut herself again while shaking her hands when excited. That, and according to Neth, girls preferred people with very short, trimmed, filed nails. So... either do it now, or game or experiment or whatever and do it later while either thinking about it all the time or forgetting about it... Fiine...

Zoemie closed her eyes, thought a bit, and opened them again. At least this is easy, she grumbled internally as she conjured a nailcare box, teleported to the workshop, and got to work. Zoemie did not like her nails very much. They were flat, sharp, always got grime under them, and needed to be cut and cleaned all the dang time... or at least more often than Zoemie would've liked.

It kept her busy for a short while, at least. Not particularly engaging, but not a complete waste of time either. Once done, Zoemie drank some tapwater, then teleported into her workshop and decided to try and figure out something she could do.

Both gaming and magic experimentation had little urgency to them. Would still like to get started on time magic, though, Zoemie decided with a grunt of satisfaction. The games could wait, for now.

Zoemie sat on the workshop chair, and started to try and figure out how to do her time magic experimentation. Start simple. She conjured a cheap vase, utter crap with a one-digit price tag, and with a slam of her hand shattered half of it. And now, let's try to make this work.

---

Zoemie snarled wordlessly as she slammed her fist against the table. I almost fucked up ! AGAIN ! She was getting absolutely nowhere. It had been the third time now she had to break the vase, as she kept repairing it by accident rather than undoing the breaking by warping it back in time, which, while giving the same results on their face, for Zoemie what mattered was her goal.

Trying to channel time magic failed, like she was slamming her head against some invisible wall. Bah ! This is easy ! Any random fucker can do it easily, so why I can't ? And if she dared break her focus for even a split second, the magic would switch to "repair" mode instead, forcing her to break the vase again. Something that really pissed her off.

Zoemie sighed. She was getting nowhere, the accidental repairs tired her out, and frustration was building fast. Seems like I'm completely out of luck. I'll stop and come back later. Or she was going to do something really bad. She sighed, and spun her chair when Xajymzia entered the workshop, looking slightly concerned.

"Oh, hey." said Zoemie, greeting the maid in her usual fashion, to which the maid nodded. 'Trying to fuck around with time magic, but this isn't working out, it's pissin' me off." The maid cocked her head to the side, so Zoemie kept talking. "When I try to "bring the broken vase back in time", it eithers repairs it if I lose focus, or I just hit a fucking wall. Like, lemme show."

As Zoemie started to channel, Xajymzia's eyes seemed to change, the maid trying to analyze something. "Odd. You appear to be doing nothing wrong, but... this isn't working.", she started. "Something is stopping... not you specifically... some kind of... I'm not sure ? Interdiction ? This doesn't feel correct, though..."

"Urgh. Gotta have to find another approach, then." Zoemie grumbled. "There's gotta be a simple solution. There's always a simple solution. Normally that's when I'd ask Internet, but... well... that wouldn't help." She shook her head, and stretched out her arms.

"Did you sleep well ?" Xajymzia asked, changing the subject, but Zoemie's grunting told her her answer in advance. "More nightmares ?" the maid asked, Zoemie sighing in answer before she started talking.

"...Same as yesterday. Kinda. Same creepy voice and cryptic shit, but this time it was the bandit guy and the trio." Zoemie explained. "God, I'm so fucking tired of it all. The nightmares. The people. I... I'm just so, so fucking tired."

"Do you regret letting the three adventurers go ?", Xajymzia inquired, cocking her head to the side. Zoemie sighed again as she formulated her answer, trying to figure out what to say.

"I dunno." was Zoemie's answer. "I mean... I'd rather not go around and kill people, but... like... I don't trust 'em to tell people to leave me alone. Why would they ? They'd gain more from telling anyways."

Xajymzia did not know if she agreed, but she understood where it came from. Xajymzia considered with a complicated expression. She could simply let Zoemie go for now. Avoid the incoming conversation about time altogether. But the problem with doing that is that... this is a conversation they needed to have eventually.

Xajymzia felt her mind settle quickly. Thinking lightyears faster than humans did have its boons. Maybe it wasn't the best time, but it would be good enough. She just needed a good lead-in. She thought about her words for a short while before she finally settled in. "What... do you seek to gain from time magic ?" she asked after a bit.

"...It seems useful, yannow ? The most useful type of magic I can think of." Zoemie started to answer. Zoemie grumbled, and continued – if she had been holding a cup of some beverage, she would've twirled the spoon a little. "I don't know if I'm gonna return home, back to... the other place, either way – but at least have it as an option."

She sighed. "The place sucked, but with teleportation and possibly super strength it might not be as awful. Curious what Dad and Neth would think about it, too. It might have sucked, but it was still... home, I guess." A slight smile appeared on Zoemie's face – a rare sight. There was a lull in the conversation as Zoemie seemed to think about something.

"...I had thought about it, you know. To go back further still. Give all the people who made my life hell, or just looked on as it happened, a proper piece of my mind. Ensure they can't be dicks to mini-me. Maybe that could be good."

Xajymzia considered. She probably should change Zoemie's mind, or at least take her mind off the idea, because following such a path could only end badly. "Is that truly a good idea ? You could get injured or worse, and that's ignoring the fragile nature of time." she decided as her answer.

"Wouldn't be a big loss either way." Zoemie said, with a dour conviction in her voice.

"I disagree, but... Maybe taking a nap would be a good idea ? Or at the very least a break." said Xajymzia, changing the subject a little, to which Zoemie nodded. The frustration and tiredness probably didn't help Zoemie think straight, a bit of rest should help.

"... Maybe, yeah, I'm not getting anywhere, so..." Zoemie pondered and agreed before teleporting to her room. Xajymzia nodded to herself. Not the best, not the worst. She couldn't help but be a little curious about why the spell failed, however. There had been... something. Some kind of interference ? This mandated further research and analysis. To do on her own time.

Zoemie teleported back to her room. A nap does sound good. It could calm her down, let her rest a little. Maybe. If she didn't dream this time around. It would be great. And she wasn't getting anywhere either way, so...

Zoemie swung on her bed for a short while, thinking, before she wrapped the blanket around herself and went to sleep. The blanket's heavier than before, Zoemie remarked, the weighted blanket pressing on her stomach. It did feel nice, though, and Zoemie fell into a dreamless sleep.

---

When Zoemie woke up, it was... late afternoon, almost 6 PM. God fucking dammit. She was feeling better, now, at least good enough for some gaming. Something she decided to do after grabbing some water, because she was parched.

When Zoemie was done, she teleported back and started gaming for the rest of the day. It had taken her a bit of time to find something to play, but she was currently enjoying some tower defense, this time with balloons and monkeys.

She still had the one with the gems to do, and the one with the elements too, and that was just the top of her head. Got a big backlog and nothing else to enjoy, so let's get rollin'.

She still needed to grind through a bunch of medals, so might as well do them. The easy medals didn't do a lot to keep her mind busy, due to Zoemie having reliable strategies for these, but that was okay. A bit of time to breathe was something she appreciated after dealing with the one-two of the bandits and the adventurers.

Zoemie couldn't say she regretted both of her choices, to kill the bandit and spare the adventurers. But a part of her kind of wished she handled it better ? Or at least in a cleaner, smoother way, rather than forcing and intimidating her way through it.

But at the same time, nothing else works. I don't like it, but it's the most reliable way to get people to do what I want that I know. And it's not even that effective. For Zoemie, she sucked at dealing with people – that was for her a fact of life she had come to terms with a long time ago.

The feeling she felt after klling the Wraith, however, her stomach an endless, hollow pit, did leave her troubled. She... couldn't describe why in good terms, as it wasn't a feeling of having messed up or failed. It's not a fuckup like I almost always do, but I really hate how this feels anyways.

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It's like... the pointlessness, the futility of the dude's actions, ended up getting him nowhere despite being I guess being kind of important ? Or at least feared... Zoemie couldn't word it well, but something about it left her off-balance and uneasy. She hoped it would go away soon.

She shook her head and returned to her game. This type of brooding often only made her feel bad, and unproductive to boot. She shook her head and let the gaming swallow her, alternating as she always did sequences of playing and "shaking on the bed hugging her pillow while thinking out loud" only getting interrupted by Xajymzia for dinner.

Following a spinach, eggs and cheddar cream dinner, and the appropriate post-food routine of course, Zoemie returned to her gaming, albeit she swapped games, moving one of her Mokepon romhack save files on her computer and continuing it on the computer this time around. Got some RetroAchievements to work through.

The only notable thing Zoemie did during this was at one point, during a short break on her bed, she conjured herself a themed, dark blue hoodie pajama, complete with head-shaped hoodie and sleeves.

Zoemie then spent the remainder of the night playing without thinking too much, catching and leveling, completing the ingame list, satisfied by the progress she was making. Today wasn't too bad, she thought as she went to bed.

---

There are no words in a hundred and fifty languages to describe the annoyance Zoemie felt when she dreamed again. This time, Zoemie was looking at what seemed to be an island, when she heard... something in the distance, something that Zoemie couldn't describe or comprehend, but which froze her to the core.

And it was at this moment that the mechanical voice started up again, coming off to Zoemie as angry, which spooked her further. Hope it won't punish me or worse.

"omniversal commit

that cannot be revert

 

not by you

not by us e i t h e r

 

a million umd¤<@ lie u n b o r n

 

we / guilty all the same

 

mistakes engraved in eternity"

Unlike before, the dream didn't end there, although Zoemie sighed in relief, as it seemd the voice had no intention of harming her. The ground seemed to shake, however, as the skies went red, a baleful, cursed shooting star going down in a spiral, hurling towards the ground.

And after what Zoemie couldn't say to be a second or three hours, the voice spoke again, before the star hit, sure to leave untold destruction behind, and at this moment the dream greyed out, the voice speaking again.

"what was shan't be again

 

it was too late before any r e a l i z e d

 

yet only one way remains

h a r d e s t path

 

forwards"

And it was at this moment that the dream ended, Zoemie waking up drenched with cold sweat. She shook her head, deeply rattled unlike what she ever was before.

The other nightmares had been unpleasant, but this... wasn't simply unpleasant. The roar, the star, the... She breathed in, hard, before breathing out, exhaled air blowing through her nose and clearing her ears, soothing her a bit.

"What the fuck was that..." she mumbled to herself, getting up and not even bothering to remove the bedsheet, instead setting up the laptop tray by the bedfoot and opening her computer straight. 10 AM. Early. Might go back to sleep when I've calmed down.

She then put on some music and starting swinging her body around in her bed, hugging her pillow tightly and trying to calm herself. "Pray for the liight to reeeign..." the computer's speakers screamed. It's a good song.

Zoemie sighed after... a short while. Maybe. Xajymzia had knocked at the door. "More nightmares ?" the maid asked in a soft voice through the door, Zoemie nodding in answer with an uneasy grunt.

"Yeah... it talked about... I didn't really get it... About not being able to go back ? Or something ? About time and... yeah..." Zoemie rambled for a bit. She took a breath in and continued. "It was mumbling something about... a bunch of... something being unborn..."

Xajymzia cocked her head to the side. "I... didn't really catch it. It seemed pissed, though, like, or it sounded that way ? But like it didn't do anything other than just... ramble with a creepy mechanical voice", Zoemie continued.

Xajymzia simply stood quiet for a while, having sat down on the chair. It was after a short lull that she finally said something. "Is there anything you need right now ?" Zoemie stared in the void, and sighed. "Not really. Just... gotta calm down and go back to sleep. See what I'll do later." Zoemie answered.

---

Rickard and his crew settled down in the tavern, satisfied. Their jobs were well done, they had the small town's admiration. They were treating them with the respect they deserved, catered to their wishes, like any proper hero deserves.

Man, this is great. The adventurers ate their meal, offered free of charge as compensation for slaughtering the bandit group that was attacking the town. Rickard shook his head a bit and focused on the food and company. It was quite nice, he had to say. He and the boys had connected easily, and now they were making small talk. "So, what's you guys plans for tonight ?"

"Gotta warp home or my girl will make a fuss." the axeman mentioned. He was always complaining about her, but to be fair Rickard couldn't say he disagreed. Women were hot, but damn were they annoying.

"Ah, yes... Women, the ol' ball-and-chain..." Rickard continued, his buddies nodding in agreement. "Constantly pestering for jewelry and babies and shit...", the other men nodding as well. "She should be happy to be married to a hero's companion like you !" he finished, before taking a swig of his drink. Nice beer, man. Not the best I've had, but still pretty damn good.

"I know, right !" the axeman agreed cheerfully, all of the men taking a swig as well in agreement, no one paying their discussion any particular mind, more focused on assessing the little damage inflicted by the bandits and cooling down from the fright of the men's attack.

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