Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Watching the Stars That Tremble

Hei looked surprised to see me when I caught up to him.

"Where are you heading?" I asked.

"Nowhere, really. I just couldn't sleep."

"You gotta rest."

"I can't," he said. "We've got eight hours before the fight. There's too much going on inside my head. Everything Saber taught. Everything I'll need to remember."

I couldn't blame him. I doubted I'd be able to fall asleep, either.

"We should come up with combo moves," I suggested to him as we strolled.

Hei nodded pensively. "Yeah."

We thought together for a bit.

"...We'll both attack the enemy at the same time," I finally managed. "We'll call that Plan A."

"Isn't that kind of basic?"

"I tried my best, OK," I conceded.

We roamed to the edge of the arena, to the bend in top-lane, where the grass grew, where we were alone. We sat down next to each other there.

"Why do we put two people in bottom lane, instead of top?" I wondered.

"Who knows. We don't need to question the meta if it works. As long as we stick together, things should work out."

The question remained of how we'd coordinate between ourselves as a duo.

"Let's fight when we can win, and not fight when we can't win," I proposed.

"Isn't that kind of basi…" He cut himself off. "You know what, sure." Quite defeated, he leaned into my shoulder. I think that was the first time he had ever done that, in our whole lives. I wanted to give him a head-pat but held myself back.

We then devised a couple strategies, like how we could kill golems quickly to level up sooner. And we prepared responses for the hypotheticals that worried us most, such as what to do if one of us went down in combat, or if we got separated by enemy forces.

"Remember how we were supposed to have a will-writing party?" I brought up. "I think I know what I want my will to be."

"Yeah?" Hei said.

"My parents can decide what to do with my stuff back home," I said. "As for you. Please help Saber get her video footage back to the real world."

I wanted the world to know this place existed, and to take precaution. But more selfishly, I wanted everyone to know I once existed, even after I'd be gone. My family. My friends. I want them to know me in my final days. And not just me, but Becky as well. She deserved to be remembered. We owed her at least that much.

"Alright, I will," Hei promised. His assurance comforted me, and I let loose a pent-up breath.

I closed my eyes, then allowed silence to whisk me away. I imagined that this was just another hike, through the mountains that bordered our city. The gentle breeze. The rustling of trees. The buzz of distant insects. The cool, soft tufts of grass under me. And the deep, deep darkness that enveloped everything.

We spent the rest of the night sparring lightly.

Dawn did not arrive the next morning. Just as the eastern skies turned shades brighter, a singular flash of white light consumed us.

When the light faded, I found myself in the middle of a grassy plain. It was already day; the sun hung low in the sky, though it had reached full brightness.

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All of my teammates stood by my side, apparently having been teleported together for the challenge. Stone walls surrounded us on all sides, and there were three gates in the walls leading out into the arena. Behind us, there was a green crystal, the size of a car and cylindrical in shape. Our Base-Core. A stone spire, topped with a green orb, stood in front of it protectively.

At the very back of the castle, farther behind the tower and Base-Core, was a vending machine. A small table stood next to it.

Seemed like this was our base.

「Five minutes until gates open.」

A distant voice announced that across the field. I recognized that voice as the lady who first granted me my magic.

I approached the table. Upon it were five copper medallions – [Death Wards], and five black rings – [Rings of Recall]. I went up to the vending machine. A line of digitized text appeared on its display.

 

Sophia: 0 gold

 

I also noticed a faint golden glow seeping out of the machine. Was that the magic within diffusing out? It invigorated me.

[Vending machine — Aura of Recovery: Heal 10 additional HP per second.]

Huh. How did our intel miss that?

I knelt down and peeked into the dispense-slot thingy, the part of the machine where products came out from. I found one vial of blue liquid – [Potion of Austerity].

"I can take the potion," I said to Hei, and he acknowledged. I emptied the vial's content in a single gulp. A tasteless, watery fluid. We then took the Death Wards and rings. I put my backpack down by the vending machine so I could move faster.

Saber took a picture of the vending machine's products. There was a Potion of Arcana, which cost 500 gold and granted +25 Arcana Points for the duration of the match. Seemed promising. Other similar potions provided boosts to physical damage, attack speed, and HP.

Soon, the gates swung open with a dull rumble. Each gate led into a torchlit stone tunnel, which then went through the castle wall to the outside world. In the middle of the tunnel was a machine. I recognized it as the golem-fabricator.

Saber looked up to the sky, shielding her eyes from the sun. "I'd like to start on the top side of our own jungle," Saber explained. "Farm the zombie cave there first for XP and gold. I've fought at Mr. Atlas's side enough to have a feel for his abilities, so I'll focus on coordinating with him top. Sophia, Hei, I might come bottom as well. Jack, play safe. When you're alone, stay under the tower and just defend if you need to. Don't worry, we'll get everyone through."

"Sure," he said with a nonchalant tilt of his head. "I'll manage on my own."

"I'm sorry to put you through this," Saber said. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Hey. Look." Jack glanced at Saber, his eyes glinting darkly under his hood. "You do what you need to do. Save your apologies. I'm not going to blame you for caring more about your friends."

"Nonsense," I rebutted. "You are on our team now, and that makes you one of us. You need to believe in Saber."

My face felt hot, and I wondered if I should've said that. Those words came out of me without me really thinking about them. Were they how I truly felt? Or was that just me trying at being diplomatic? I couldn't tell anymore.

"Yeah," Jack said casually. "I like you too."

I decided to end the exchange with a firm nod. "Take care," I said to the others. I just remembered we never got the chance to share our wills.

Hei and I marched into the tunnel leading to bottom-lane. It seemed like the castle had been drastically simplified. There were no twists or turns or branching pathways in the tunnel this time; it was only a straight path that led right outside. The entire "castle" seemed more like just a very thick wall with three gates.

By the time we jogged outside into the lane, a squad of five golems marched out of the fabricator. Three had shields; two had crossbows. They marched with us to our lane, our killing grounds.

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