Author Notes:
If it's not evident from the words in the newest OBOM chapter, then yes, I am drunk on coffee, more so than usual. As for whether this drunkness will result in a good chapter... Would you kindly to communicate your thoughts with me, pretty please?
Anyway, do keep a lookout for the next Monthly Recruitment Drive, featuring a 25% discount for all newcomers~! You can enjoy a small wealth of Early Access Chapters for all 3 of my stories!
Cheers, and have a great, wonderful day! And thank you everyone for one heck of a month~!
https://www.patreon.com/Heartbreak117
https://discord.gg/cVZxJ29ruh
Aurea: https://postimg.cc/nXqRjfhp
Reizen (slated to be the new cover picture): https://postimg.cc/xXLxJV1Q
Umbra: https://postimg.cc/Jsj6DCzR
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"I can understand and sympathize with Aurea's past," Reizen says as she helps me move two full crates of scavenged parts and materials with ease and place them in a storage shed I built. "But yours is quite... mind-boggling, to say the least."
I smirk, before moving to the stack of crates: full of useful knick-knacks like composite, rubber, alloy, or chunks of parts with all of the precious minerals. I then deposit them all in my inventory with a swipe of my hand, fattening my System bank account from which the GAD Module will use whenever it comes in handy. There's a whole economy inside the GAD Module's operating logic, really. Something-something refined resources are worth more than unrefined or recycled/scavenged ones... It's a lot of calculations to have, one that I see no point in dwelling on right now.
"You know," I look over to Reizen. "This ain't the first time someone made a comment like that."
Reizen pats the dust off her hands, and I can glimpse that, despite all the heavy-lifting being done by her, Reizen's fingers are still smooth as silk and are as white as fine porcelain. To keep myself from being distracted, I continue to say.
"Come on, let's try to finish emptying this car before nightfall." I lead her out of the now-empty shed, adding. "Anyway, got any questions you wanna ask upon unveiling the first pages of history about me?"
"Huhm... For starters, how old are you, mentally speaking?" Reizen asks with a face full of curiosity as we step through a blast door that got pried and pulled open by the Rover's immense horsepower.
I give her an amused look as I follow the chemlights we used to mark the traversable paths. Reizen, recognizing the meaning behind my gaze, smiles wryly. "Right, age is meaningless to keep track of when you have lived for so long."
I raise a finger. "That, and the fact that I didn't have access to a calendar upon experiencing what one would call a birth."
"Ok... If you don't mind me asking, then what's the circumstances behind your birth and your eventual crossover here?" Reizen asks another question, to which I smirk.
"Straight to the meaty stuff, huh? You ain't curious about the eras I have lived through in another world? Even Aurea still hasn't digested all of my memories, and that's saying something."
"There will be time for storytelling later, right? Currently, I am aching to understand what makes you, well, you?" Reizen replies as she looks around.
"True that. By the way, you recognize where we are?" I ask, approaching a multi-way fork on the path.
"For this particular train..." Reizen hums, pulling up a mental map of the place she used to call home. "We're quite near the backup generators room. That room should house a set of mana condensers and batteries that can provide power to almost all standard Eternal Reich technologies. They're quite compact, considering what they're supposed to do. However, I am unsure if they are still functional. But it may be a good idea to grab them all, considering it may be possible to reverse-engineer them all in the future, like everything else. "
"Ah, your magical technology is quite something to have, alright. They all sound more convenient than just standard stuff like, let's say, a fusion reactor." I make an appreciative comment before stepping aside. "Lead the way, Reizen."
"Right this way, Umbra." Reizen assumes the leading position as I trail right behind her.
Understandably, my eyes are quite attracted to the curviness of her behind. I really should find a coat or something for Reizen, something like what I am wearing currently. Otherwise, it will be hard for me to focus on anything else, not that I can't just power through it.
[Umbra...] Comes Aurea's gentle admonishment, to which I put out a tongue and smile guiltily.
[Guilty as charged, your honor.]
Anyway...
"If you're asking about how I was born to and who my parents were to live that long, Reizen..." I draw out the sentence, causing Reizen to give me a side glance that contains her mounting wish to know. "Then the answer is, I don't know."
I casually shrug, causing Reizen to miss a step due to the off-beat reply. She stops just ahead, turning to give me an appraising look, only to see no sign of me fooling around with my reply.
I chuckle.
"Seriously, I don't know how I was born, or if I even have any parents whatsoever. For the most part, I don't know what I was back there, even until now. The only answer to your question that I think would fit the most is..."
I point my index finger at my head.
"I think, therefore I am. My very first waking memory, I was there, in a beautiful garden of nature. Back then, I looked no different from the body I occupy right now, and my brain works in mysterious ways, letting me know and learn things either on instinct or at a rapid pace. Back then, humankind hadn't really existed just yet. And no, other than my apparent ability to be undying, I can't conjure a fireball or heal a wound without using a bandage and alcohol. If I'm part of a supernatural, then I'm pretty sure I'm of the more useless type."
"I'm not so sure about that..." Reizen says slowly, mulling over my brief lore drop. "Your existence itself, in a world that is seemingly dominated by only scientific advances, is like a bug in the system. Or, and this is just a hypothesis, you could be the universe's last dying gasp at a supernatural being."
I giggle.
"Hehe, I've always known that I was precious. But anyway, I've lived long, far too long. During which time, I've come to realize that I don't die easily. It will still hurt, of course, but even if I'm vaporized down to ash and nothing else, I will somehow appear back in the living world, just somewhere else."
Reizen actually shivers at how I describe one of my suicidal attempts. "You turn yourself into a guinea pig?"
"Not really that bad, no. I picked my own ways to go out, thank you very much... Or at least, I tried to, but most didn't work out." I shrug.
"Then how did you meet the Void Goddess? What happened that led you to come to share a body with Aurea?"
"I went all in, that's what." I smile, thinking back to a particularly excited time. "Let's just say humanity has its knack for breaking rules and stuff. In our most recent war, a faction invented a weapon that would have collapsed an entire planet into a second dimension, effectively wiping it from the face of the universe that remains in the third dimension. Obviously, the planned use for that weapon went awry, as the weapon's effectiveness turned out to be far surpassing what the makers intended. It would have erased an entire solar system if left to its own devices."
"Since others were unable to stop the weapon from going off, I intervened and ferried the bomb personally to a space in the middle of nowhere, using the fastest FTL ship we had at that point. Afterwards," I raise my hands with a wry smile. "Bomb went boom. Met Viola. Got reborn into Aurea's body. Now, here we are."
Stopping for a moment, I add.
"Now that this matter has come up, I should add that I, or at least my physical body back then, really did perish. However, according to Viola, the only reason I could get to the Bar was that I died to a rule-breaker in the system. Apparently, dimensional reduction strikes were banned in that part of the universe. I died an unnecessary death because a rat thought it could outsmart the system. Subsequently, I think the reason why Viola sent me here was partly out of compensation and partly because that universe needed a thorough cleanup by her group of Shoggoths. And I don't think any of us would fancy living in a universe that now has Cthulhu-level beings marauding around."
Reizen, however, interjects with something shocking when I mentioned Shoggoths.
"Actually, Umbra, Shoggoths are nice people. The Eternal Reich has had the opportunity to host some of them on regular occasions whenever they're off the clock or are on vacation. In fact, the most famous Shoggoth we know of is Nicolae William, and she is a family member of the Eternal Reich's ruling party. She's the one to aid in boosting the Eternal Reich's technological level and is one of the prime reasons why Psyonic and Psyonic-related developments exist."
"Huh..." I let out a dumb exclamation, not capable of parsing that something from Lovecraft is actually a she and she is a good person alongside the rest of her race. "Wait, you're telling me the Shoggoths work a nine-to-five shift with paid vacation and all that jazz?"
"Apparently so, yeah? I haven't quite had the honor to see one in person, unfortunately." Reizen sighs wistfully.
"Right... I should have badgered Viola for more about the truths of the world. What you said basically upended a part of my worldview, Reizen."
Reizen, being accommodating, smiles wryly. "Sorry if the information makes you uncomfortable. I should make a note that, at the end of the day, we both have had vastly different lives; I shouldn't be too abrupt with any of my speech."
I shake my head, smiling. "Nah, don't sweat it. Honestly, from what you've told me so far, I would love to visit the Eternal Reich, one day."
"Yeah... I would love for you and Aurea to visit my motherland. The Eternal Reich is a magical place." Reizen sighs with a longing look in her pale blue eyes.
I move to grab her hand in a comforting gesture.
"Don't worry, we have all the time in the world to figure out a way to get you home, to get all of us back to your home."
"... You and Aurea are willing to follow me, should that possibility arise?" Reizen asks in a careful manner.
I smile at this. "Hey, you're the one who pledged yourself to me. Whenever Aurea and I go, you follow, and vice versa. We're all in this together."
"World hopping? Heh, it ain't an insurmountable challenge when I have access to the golden finger, which is the System, and I know for a fact that, provided the necessary investment, the Grand Admiral Dreadnought Module can reconstruct a carbon-copy of the ERS Voyager... You know perfectly what this entails, right?"
"A straight ticket to home..." Reizen mutters, before fixing me a serious look with her hand gripping mine tighter, as if reaffirming her pledge to Aurea and me. "I think I'm blessed as well, to have you found me among all of this. I don't think I will ever thank you enough for this chance, even if I am to dedicate more than my everything."
Reizen then looks around, taking in the sights of the hallways and corridors that were once well-lit.
"... Come on, Umbra. I think I've wasted enough of your time answering my curiosity. The generator room should be just ahead."
"Alright," I nod before following right by her side. "But remember... I'm always available if you want to have a chat; it doesn't have to be all about work or curious queries. I'll see if I can convince Aurea to maintain a light-hearted discussion with you in the near future, as well. It will be a healthy development for all of us."
"I understand." Reizen smiles kindly as she turns her head to look deeper into my eyes, as if searching for Aurea in our mental space. "I look forward to one day seeing you in person, Aurea."
[I-I will try...! I-It's a promise!] Aurea replies nervously, though I can feel her expectation.
After this whole Voyager business, it's high time Aurea gets out of our safety mental space and refamiliarizes herself with the chaotic living world. Speaking of the Voyager business, I still need to pass the now-dormant ERS Voyager's AI back to her. For some reason, I couldn't store the sleeping AI in the Inventory, so the AI has been kept safely back in one of the Rover's cabinets.
Lost in my thoughts, I don't quite realize that I am still holding hands with Reizen, and that the girl next to me is silently gauging my reaction to physical contact with her.