Cecilia was surprised when Lexie slew the first monster with ease.

It was a huge tentacled beast that had risen from the Earth when they'd triggered its trap. Ryn tried to explain exactly what the beast was, but Lexie ignored her.

It roared at them, sending its tentacles their way, but Lexie sliced almost all of them. She also leapt in the air while the creature shot more tentacles at them, and Ryn shielded Cecilia and Little Fae.

Lexie, of course, didn't need a shield.

She simply floated in mid-air, evaluating the beast before her.

It was throwing its tentacles haphazardly without rhyme or reason, and it was wailing while it did. It didn't seem intelligent enough to serve her needs, and it also didn't seem like it was all that powerful.

Lexe sighed as she aimed void bullets at it, tearing it through its bulbous flesh like it was made of nothing. The creature let out a last violent screech as it disintegrated.

Lexie was disappointed.

If things kept going the way they were, Lexie would never find a disciple, and according to the V'Sala, she needed to prove that she had disciples before other lords would take her seriously.

She wondered why more intelligent Eldritch weren't approaching her.

She thought, given her power level, other Eldritch would be clamoring to be her disciple, but so far, they'd only tried to kill her or avoid her. She could hear creatures scurrying off as their entourage approached, and she only had a brief thought of whether or not to kill them before she discarded it.

There was no point in killing things that were weaker than her.

Although at this point, it seemed that everything was weaker than her. She rarely ever faced a challenge anymore, and she had not 'died' since her fight with Yasycht.

After she was done killing the tentacle beasts, she turned and met the eyes of her companion. Ryn and Little Fae were very used to things by now, so they were expressionless, with Little Fae only offering Lexie a short round of applause.

Cecilia looked very freaked out. "H…how did you do that?"

"She is very powerful," Ryn answered for Lexie. "Extremely powerful, actually, especially for such a young Eldritch. She may be on par with an Old One. That is why I say she is strange."

"Oh," Cecilia said, and she eyed Lexie with an apprehension she didn't have before.

Lexie didn't know exactly how she felt about it, but it wasn't good.

"Let's go," she said, and they continued their journey.

Cecilia was again surprised when Lexie laid waste to a legion of Eldritch goblins. She was also surprised when Lexie killed an army of Centaurs and a shapeshifting wendigo.

Lexie wondered when the woman would stop being surprised.

"Look back and see if the mountain is closer," she told Ryn, because Ryn was a better judge of distances than Lexie. She confirmed that the mountain was indeed closer. It was such a strange phenomenon. The farther away they walked, the closer the mountain appeared, but it wasn't evenly. Sometimes they would walk for a long time, and the mountain would be only a little closer, and sometimes they walked for a shorter time, and the mountain would be a lot closer. When Lexie had sent out the V'Sala clones to evaluate the distances, it didn't seem like the mountain was any closer on any of them.

It was still unclear why.

After they'd walked for some time, Lexie became aware of Cecilia's labored breathing.

She ignored it for some time, until the woman's feet began to drag, and Ryn finally said, "I think the human is slowly dying."

"No, I'm fine," Cecilia said as she wheezed, bending over to hold her knees. "It's just I have asthma, but you know…you guys really don't get tired, do you?"

"Not often," Ryn said. "I've boosted my constitution by a lot since I've been here, and I know some basic combat even though it's hard to level that up without practice, and with her, I haven't had much practice. You see, combat to me is…" She stopped herself, glancing at Lexie and self-regulating. "In any case, my stamina is much better than it used to be. Zu-Lo-Ya's too."

"Oh, good. That's good." Cecilia straightened. "I'll admit, I haven't passed that many tests here, so I've only been able to gain a few skills. I've focused on upgrading my mental and magical points, only giving myself enough physical skills to survive."

"Oh?" she said. "And what have you been doing here?"

"Mostly, searching for a way out," she said, "Reading all the research I've gathered over the years and working on my mechs." Speaking of which, Cecilia had tucked away the tiger when they began walking, saying she needed to conserve its energy.

"Research on what?" Ryn asked.

"The nature of the dungeon and teleportation out of the dungeon," she said.

"I thought you couldn't teleport out of a dungeon."

"Not with magic," she said. "With alchemy…it might work. So that's what I've been researching since I've been here. Of course, I've cleared a few levels, but only out of necessity. Usually, I stumble on a new level here and there when I'm chased by creatures that are spread all over this dungeon, and then I have to solve it."

"I see. Is that why you entered this dungeon in the first place?" Lexie asked. "To conduct research?"

Cecilia nodded, her gaze growing sad again. "What happened to your mother was my fault, Lexie. I couldn't forgive myself. I wanted…No, I needed to find a way to save her. So I researched all I could on teleportation on Earth, and to practice, I would go into dungeons. My former alchemy teacher told me about these secret worlds within the dungeons and led me to believe that I could find the knowledge I was seeking here. And in a way, I have. I mean, the mental upgrade has led me to so many discoveries you wouldn't even believe. What better way to figure out how to get out of a dungeon than doing it yourself?" She swallowed. "I used to come here to practice. Unfortunately, the dungeon malfunctioned, and I could no longer leave. And I soon found out that a lot of other creatures were getting trapped in here with me, too."

"So you've been here longer than most?"

"I don't know exactly how long I've been here." She suddenly looked weary. "Just that when I first came, nothing was attacking me. Then, sometime later, everything was."

"Hmm," Lexie said. She stored the information away in her brain, and they continued their journey.

Some time later, she heard Cecilia's labored breathing again.

Ryn asked, "Why not ride your big beast so you do not get tired?"

"Yeah, why not ride him?" Lexie asked.

"It's not easy to have him active all the time," Cecilia said. "He's powered by me, so it saps a lot of energy using him."

"Ah." It was a shame. Lexie liked seeing the tiger. Perhaps she might make something like that soon. A tiger creature card.

Hmm. Speaking of which, she could afford to make more creature cards. Like perhaps with the tentacled beast over there. She could have maybe used its essence to create a creature card before killing it.

But she would need to coax him to push his essence onto the card, which was going to be the hard part.

Although torture might do the trick, he didn't seem intelligent enough to even understand that.

After she got tired of the incessant heavy breathing, Lexie finally said, "Let's rest here for some time."

Ryn stopped and walked around, weaving her protective runes. Cecilia looked around and said, "Are you sure? We can keep going, we're almost there."

"You might die before we get there," Lexie told Cecilia, then added, "Besides, it's been some time since I had a dream exercise."

"Dream exercise?"

"I'm trying to meet with Naem in my dreams. But he's ignoring me."

"Because you want to kill him?"

"Probably."

She cocked her head. "Why do you want to kill him, by the way?"

"Because…." Lexie couldn't really answer the question. She looked down at her hands and shook her head. "Because I want to."

Cecilia didn't seem to know how to respond to that. "Oh. Makes sense."

Ryn wove a bed of grass and dirt for all of them, and it was comfortable enough that Cecilia commented on it.

"Wow," she said. "I have a fortified air mattress in my inventory, but this is better than that."

"I do not know what that is, but thank you," Ryn responded. "I will also brew tea for you. It is customary when meeting new friends."

"You did not brew my tea when we first met," Lexie pointed out.

"Of course. We were not friends when we first met," Ryn said. "After we became friends, I brewed you the tea."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Yeah, but that had been when she'd been nearly denatured by the Old One. And the tea had only been to save her life.

Somehow, that distinction felt important and unfair.

Lexie felt surly as Ryn began to weave the air, and a liquid appeared. It floated over to Cecilia, who stared at the floating liquid doubtfully.

"It's very good," Ryn assured her, and Cecilia opened her mouth reluctantly and allowed the liquid to flow in, swallowing.

"Soothing."

"Yes."

"Thank you," Cecila said.

Ryn paused.

"You are welcome." She shot Lexie a look. "You never say thank you."

"My thank you is when I save your life. Multiple times."

"I suppose that is better than a verbal acknowledgment of gratitude," Ryn said. "Although both can be achieved simultaneously."

Lexie said nothing. She had the urge to stick her tongue out at Ryn, but she resisted the urge.

Cecilia was smiling slightly as she glanced between them for some reason. She said, "I suppose the two of you have been travelling for some time, haven't you?"

"Yes," Ryn answered, always eager to chatter. "Together, we have conquered numerous foes and ascended about fifty levels. Before her, I conquered over a hundred levels with a previous companion, but he's dead now."

"What happened to him?"

"Lord Lexie killed him."

Cecilia's wide eyes met Lexie's. "Why?"

Lexie took a second to think about it, then she shrugged. "Because I wanted to."

Cecilia stared at Lexie for a long time with that look again that Lexie didn't quite like.

As if Lexie had done something…wrong.

It made her defensive.

Lexie had done nothing wrong. The Fae male had attacked her, and she had killed him. Sure, she had provoked that fight, but it was to get rid of the itch, to find a bit of light. That was what guided her there.

What was wrong with that?

But also, why did she care what Cecilia thought? The human woman meant nothing to her.

Yet, Lexie found herself wanting to explain, to defend her actions.

Was it because Cecilia had known who she was before the change? It wasn't like with Mickie or Logan, where she wasn't really their Lexie.

Cecilia had known the real her, down to the dual souls.

So perhaps that was why her opinion mattered a little.

No, it didn't matter. Lexie would not let it matter.

She resolved to rest while they continued their conversation, lying prone on her woven mattress. Before she forgot, she recreated the golems around her, hearing Cecilia's squeak when it sprouted from the Earth.

"They are her guards," Ryn whispered to Cecilia. "She has them because she does not trust us fully yet."

Of course not, Lexie thought. How can I trust them? How can I trust anyone again?

Her brain took her back to the last time she'd trusted someone. The last time she'd called out to them for help, they'd abandoned her in a dungeon.

Pain scalded her heart, the kind that made her resentment grow.

She let it grow, deciding there was no point in controlling it.

But the accompanying hurt made her aware of how uncomfortable she was in her skin. She wanted to kill something. She wanted to cry.

She let herself feel the feelings.

Everyone betrayed her at least once.

Naem with his actions.

Aiden with not communicating.

Even Xena with not trusting her.

When she let people get close, they let her down, and it hurt.

So it made sense not to trust anyone else, ever.

She could only trust soul contracts and bonds like the one she had with Ryn, because it certified that Ryn could not hurt her. Even then, she didn't know enough about the Fae's powers to write the female off completely. Ryn might have more underhanded means of getting around the curse.

And Lexie did not have the same bond with Cecilia.

She had a card that could create one, though. After she woke up, she would try.

Lexie hoped that she wouldn't dream again.

But she did.

This time, the dream was more recent. It wasn't a far back childhood memory.

It was a memory of Aiden teaching her cards for the first time. She wasn't in her body. She was on the outside looking in at Aiden, explaining what each card did. She saw the fascination in her young face and the excitement when she tried the first card and it worked.

After some time passed, excitement turned into frustration that she wasn't getting it fast enough, and she began rolling her eyes at herself. Lexie also saw how tense her shoulders looked. How rigidly she sat.

Had she always been that tense?

She supposed that when she first arrived on Earth 9, she'd been very on edge, careful of everything. She'd been scared of the new world and so afraid of making a mistake.

She was also afraid of disappointing him.

But Aiden had been her rock. After that first few weeks, she'd trusted he wouldn't hurt her.

She'd trusted him.

He cared for her. She could see the clear affection in his face as he watched her work.

He brought her tea and stroked her hair gently. She gave him a mullish expression, and he laughed. As the session continued, Lexie got increasingly frustrated with herself, but he never once got frustrated with her.

The dream transitioned into them fighting a villain. Mouse. She saw Aiden fighting to save her, blood oozing from his head, his arm dislocated. He was being bludgeoned to death, all because he'd tried to save her.

And was still trying even though he was fighting a losing battle.

It didn't make any sense. That was antithetical to being an Eldritch.

Eldritch looked out for themselves and their own survival. They wanted to live, to exist.

But Aiden was killing himself to save her.

Lexie's eyes opened, and she felt a pressure in her chest. She got up sharply and saw that Ryn and Little Fae were still asleep. She stumbled away from them into the bushes, and when she got far enough away, she finally got to her knees, as hot liquid streamed down her cheeks.

She cried.

She couldn't tell you exactly why she was crying. It was the same loss that plagued her. Stronger now.

She hated the dreams. Hated them.

So why did she keep having them?

Why did she keep sleeping?

It wasn't just because of Naem.

She kept doing it because she wanted, on some level, to dream again. She had promised to be honest with herself, and that was the truth. She'd wanted to see him.

Aiden.

She'd wanted to remember her life before she'd become this.

"Aiden…" She dragged her hands over her face, sobbing. "Dad…"

She heard a rustle behind her and knew it was Cecilia approaching. She smelled her before she saw her, and she didn't sense any murderous intent from the woman as she squatted down beside her.

Lexie wiped her face, sniffling back the rest of the tears.

"It's hard, isn't it?" she murmured. "Acting tough all the time."

"I don't act tough," Lexie muttered. "I am tough."

"Of course you are. You know, you remind me a lot of your mother."

"I do?"

She nodded. "You look like her, even now. And you act like her, too. She was always putting on a brave face, saving people, and acting like it was nothing. I bet if you'd asked her, she would have told you that she was no hero. She would say she only did the things she did because she enjoyed them. She killed people because she wanted to, and the fact that it was beneficial to the world was only a fortunate side-effect."

Lexie blinked. "My mother liked killing people?"

Cecilia hesitated. "I don't know if she liked it so much as she had the stomach for it. And she had an incredible murderous intent towards those who hurt others. When I was younger, she would scare me a lot. Even though she was usually defending me, I was scared that one day, she would turn that murderous intent on me."

Lexie remained silent. Her mother was the vaguest memory she had, like watching a movie she'd never truly been a part of. Those memories were buried under layers of human complication and were more muted than the Aiden memories.

Memories of her father, on the other hand, felt fresh and were always eager to cut.

"But she never hurt me. Ever," Cecilia continued. "Instead, she saved me time and time again, and never asked for anything in return. She killed someone because of me… and almost went to Viejo for it. Even then, she never made me feel like it was my fault." She released a ragged breath. "So when she'd finally asked me for a favor, when I saw how broken up she was about potentially losing you, I knew I had to do everything I could to help her. It was the only thing she'd asked of me, even after years of protecting me. And when she thought you would die and she was helpless to save you…I've never seen her like that before. She's always so cool, so infallible, and so strong. But that night she was…" She shook her head.

"Why are you telling me these things?" Lexie asked the woman.

"I'm not sure," she said. "Part of it is because I guess I owe you an apology."

"Apology?"

"Yes. You were part of the Chosen Soul program, and it meant that you may eventually have been reincarnated at another point. Because of what I did, I deprived you of that, and gave your soul to someone else."

"Oh."

"The other reason is that I miss your mother," she said. "It's why I came into this dungeon and did all that research. To find her. I don't know if I'm too late, but if there's a chance that I can rescue her, then I'm going to take it."

She was risking her life for another person. Like Aiden.

Humans were so incomprehensible.

"The other other reason I'm telling you all this," Cecilia said. "It's because I want you to know that...it's not so much how you feel that defines you, but what you do with those feelings. You are not a label given to you by whatever race you think you are. You are an individual capable of shaping your own story."

She looked up at the dark sky. "By human logic, some people would have considered your mother a monster, too. She killed people, a lot of them. She never showed remorse while killing, and it never haunted her. Occasionally, she enjoyed it. They would call her cold-blooded. Inhuman. Yet, she saved so many lives and never got the credit for it that she deserved."

"Someone is approaching," Lexie said a second before the ground exploded underneath their feet.

Cecilia screamed, but Lexie had already grabbed her and used <All Around Shield> to protect them.

At the same time, she also yelled out, "Ryn! Little Fae!"

"We are unharmed," Ryn said. "Your golems protected us."

They had? Lexie had never programmed them to protect anyone but herself.

But they'd probably done it because Lexie's emotions had pushed her power out and twisted the card pathways to do what it needed to do.

She was instantly searching for the culprit and found him floating in the air a few feet from her.

He was a small creature, only a little bigger than Lexie, but he had a human mask that made him look more mature.

"Wow," he said, smiling cruelly. He was speaking Eldritch, so while Lexie could understand, Cecilia probably couldn't. "What a nice group you have here. And you must be the famous spawn of Naem that has been wreaking havoc on this level. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"You know me," Lexie said. "I do not know you."

"I suppose you could call us cousins, since I am an experiment of the Great Lord Neqal," he said. "Although I am confused as to why you have not killed your companions yet."

"Why would I kill them?" Lexie wanted to kill him, but since he was the first intelligent Eldritch she'd met in a while, she figured she should see if she could make him her disciple first.

"To solve the level, you must kill them," he said.

"No. We must only make it to the mountain."

"And how do you think you'll make it there?"

"By walking backwards."

He shook his head.

"How foolish, cousin," he laughed. "It seems you still don't understand what this level is."

"The mountain moves closer when we move backward."

"The mountain is not moving closer because you are moving backwards. It's moving because of the things you kill when you move backwards. The mountain moves farther away when creatures enter this level and moves closer when they die. So the only way for you to arrive at the mountain is to be the last creature standing." He gestured behind him. "So, I suppose this is a…what do you humans call it again. Right. Battle Royale."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.