Chương 83: Sancu's Game, Part 1
Exhaustion, utter exhaustion... My mind was starting to awaken, but my thoughts appeared so slowly that it was hard to know if I was truly awake or simply still dreaming. More time passed and my thought process regained its basic speed, so I knew that I was awake, yet my body was so weak that I could not open my eyes. Sounds of the outside world reached me, and I could hear Echo's and L'Naan's voices from time to time, but I still could not muster the strength to open my eyes. I had no idea how long I had been in this twilight state, between consciousness and not, yet, over time, I could tell that Echo and L'Naan were becoming more and more concerned.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I took in a deep breath and opened my eyes. What I found was not to my expectations. A gray stone roof overhead, a dirt floor around me, and I was laid on a pile of hides. For an instant, I thought that I was back in Lincoln's cave, and that he was out hunting, but then I remembered the voices... and that he was dead.
With a groan, I forced myself to sit up. While I could fight starships at my peak, this simple action took far more effort. My mind, and my memories, had returned, so I understood why everything was so difficult for me. The amount of Soul Power that I had used during my fight against Annorax's ship was beyond what I should have been capable of, and yet, here I was... even if I did not recognize my surroundings.
I could only wait, leaning against the stone wall, and watch the wooden door. The room that I was in was small, barely large enough for me to lay out completely in any direction. If I was to stand, I might need to duck slightly, or my horns would likely scrape the ceiling.
After an unknown amount of time, the wooden door opened, and Echo was standing in the doorway. She was not wearing the Starfleet-like uniform, but rather, makeshift hide armor, and there was a crude quiver slung across her back. There was surprise in her eyes when she first saw me, then her brow furrowed and a piece of paper appeared in her hand, no doubt from the storage ring on her finger.
"Read this first, then I will explain what has been going on while you slept," Echo said, holding out the paper towards me.
'Congratulations, you died!
'Voyager was erased from the Timeline resulting in no reason for you to be in the universe, but it would be boring if we just ended it here, so why not play a Game for a second chance? It is a far better offer than you would get in the outside world and, if you don't, Raven's life is forfeit as she is a part of the Collective. Do I have your attention now?
'The rules of the Game are simple: You only need to survive. Katye is undergoing her own trial and, once she completes it, she just needs to destroy Annorax's ship from the inside out. Once she does, everything will reset to the point where Voyager first entered Krenim space, though without Annorax's ship existing.
'Be warned. A death within this Game means complete erasure from the Timeline, meaning that only you will be left with your memories of the person, while to the rest of the universe it will be as if they never existed in the first place. While I have allowed your storage rings to remain, it is only for the sentimental value and keeping this reminder safe; everything inside has been removed and will only be returned when Katye finishes her Trial. Six hours a day, this place will be a paradise, filled with strong beasts that nourish even your body by consuming the meat, and precious herbs that can increase your mana, but the following eighteen hours will be Hell.
'-Sancu'
I crumpled the paper in my hand in anger, but I knew that there was nothing that I could do now. I refused to abandon Raven to a fate worse than death, so I would play his stupid game, but his message was clear. If this had been anywhere other than Istar's Realm, I would be dead, Katye would be dead, Raven, Echo, L'Naan, Janeway, Seven... I would have lost everything.
"How long have I been unconscious?" I asked after a few minutes.
"Nearly two months," Echo replied.
I gritted my teeth and slammed my hand down, but it hurt me more than it did the ground since my body was still incredibly weak from the Soul damage that I had taken.
"There is one more thing that you need to know... L'Naan is also here," Echo said.
My eyes widen with shock and fear. By now, there was no denying the feelings between me and her, just as Echo could not deny her own, but there was a problem with her identity. She only existed because of our actions, so she was not needed for the 'story' to continue. Her erasure from the Timeline was meaningless to the plotline of the show, so she was the one at most risk.
Now, I fully understood the Game. Survival was key, of course, but it was L'Naan's survival that would be the most difficult to ensure, especially since she was not the type to stand back and let Echo and I fight alone. There was no specified amount of time that we had to last, only that things would end whenever Katye finished her Trial. Obviously, two months had passed before I woke up and yet, we were still here in his Game, so this could likely draw on for months, years, or even decades... While L'Naan's survival was in Echo's and my hands, it was more so in Katye's...
~~~~~~~~~~~
In a dark cell, Katye sat unmoving with her eyes closed. Countless runes played through her mind as she filtered out those that did not relate to the Time element. A piece of paper was clutched tightly in her hand, but that was the only hint of the anger that she was feeling.
'Congratulations, Rebecca, Echo, Raven, and everyone else have died!
'You managed to survive, but that was only due to my interference, so a debt needs to be paid. The rules of my Game are simple: You must destroy Annorax's ship if you want to see Rebecca and Echo again, and have a chance to save Raven in the future. Of course, you can refuse to participate completely, ending your time in the 'Voyager Universe', but only Rebecca and Echo will be allowed to move on with you; Raven will remain here as part of the Collective.
'To open the door of your cell, you must unlock the first level of the seal and simply press the button by the door, but you will notice that there are eight levels to the seal suppressing your mana. These seals represent the level of difficulty you will face destroying the ship. If you only break the first seal, none of your mana will be restored, yet it is possible for you to follow the method of the show and win enough loyalty from Annorax's crew, so that they will assist you in destroying the ship. If you break all eight, all of your mana will be restored, making it impossible for Annorax's crew to resist you.
'While you may think that the second or third seal is all that you need to remove to ensure a quick resolution of your current predicament, I assure you that only doing that will guarantee the most difficult outcome, and I predict that you have a one percent chance of passing with only the second seal undone and five percent chance with the third. The fourth through seventh seal have varying degrees of difficulty, but all of them have above fifty percent chance of success... so, by now, you should be asking yourself why have I told you such information.
'It is because of the possible rewards and losses that come with this Game. Rebecca, Echo, and L'Naan are in a special domain of Asad where they can grow stronger, but they will face increasing danger as the days pass; death within this zone means erasure from the Voyager timeline. Rebecca might be saved, if Master decides to intervene, but Echo, Raven, and L'Naan will not follow you to the next 'world' unless they survive, with Raven's survival dependent on Rebecca's. As for your reward, based on the number of seals you unlock, your chances of entering a unique world increase. The most important thing that you need to grasp your power, and to keep up with Rebecca, is Time. While you are within your cell, Time inside moves at a twenty-five times faster than where Rebecca, Echo, and L'Naan are, but in the unique world, minutes in the outside world are years within its boundaries. Unlocking the eighth seal guarantees that you have a chance to enter that world with minimal work, and the chances go down from there.
'So, are you willing to risk your loved ones? Are you willing to deal with the isolation for the chance to match Rebecca's progression? How far are you willing to go to possibly match the Embodiment of Chaos one day?
'-Sancu'
Katye had already been in her cell for a little over a year, yet she was still trying to unravel the first seal. She had quickly realized that the seals were all related to Time, so she understood the entirety of the possible rewards. Yes, the unique world that Sancu mentioned would be incredibly helpful for her, but the seals themselves would teach her about the Arcana, and how it interacted with Time. If she could understand its properties, she would be able to create spells and formations affecting Time, gaining the ability to give herself extra time when training. She had so much she could learn, but every day that she studied these seals was a day that Rebecca, Echo, Raven, and L'Naan were in danger.
Suddenly, something clicked within her mind and the first seal was unlocked, jolting her out of her meditation. She barely had time to realize what she had done before dozens of images were displayed on the walls of her cell. They were pictures of Echo and L'Naan fighting against hordes of the undead while defending a gray stone tower, though there was no sign of Rebecca. She questioned it for a moment then realized the probable reason, Time Acceleration.
Rebecca had likely emptied her Soul Power while she was fighting Annorax, so she would not be able to wake up quickly unless Sancu intervened, which she highly doubted. An entire year had passed for her, but it was only two or so weeks for Echo and L'Naan. They seemed to be handling themselves fine from what she could see, but how long would that last?
Katye stared at the button which could unlock her cell for several minutes. The safest thing that she could do was press the button and rush through the show's solution. If Tom had been able to gain the trust of Annorax's second, she was confident that she could do the same, possibly in even less time, as she did not have to worry about escaping the ship and simply needed a chance to destroy the temporal core.
But she dismissed the idea a little later and shut her eyes once again. She had faith that Echo and Rebecca could keep L'Naan safe, along with each other, for quite some time, so she decided to take the risk. She knew the distance between her strength and Rebecca's better than anyone else, and the danger that it represented. Ultimately, keeping Rebecca's true power in check fell on her shoulders and she needed all of the Time that she could get if she wanted to have a chance.
A/N: Double release coming up in a few minutes!
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