182: Reach for the Stars, Part Eight

Reach for the Stars, Part Eight

Neve stood there, for a little bit. 

The horde of monsters that had placed her in this position had not left. 

[... Turning back's not something I can do,] Neve understood with a sigh. [Fine.] 

The first thing she did was jump up a few times. Once with barely any strength, a second time putting more effort into it, and then a third with all of her strength, just so she could get a feel for her own hops. 

To her left, she saw the chest. Up above, far away, was the exit. 

[Okay, I may as well go for it, since I'm closer to that thing than I am to the exit. Should be fine...] She leaned forward, trying to get a sense of the path to the chest. It was so dark that she could only just barely make out the positions of each of the blocks leading up to it. Darker by far than the path leading to the exit was. [I guess that's part of the challenge.] 

Neve readied herself, her breathing slowing steadily. 

Tuning out the snarling and growling, she focused entirely on the purple chest in the distance. 

And, without hesitation, she took the first jump. 

Wrapped in darkness for a few seconds, Neve briefly worried that she'd overshot again, but as she continued to move through the air, her leap was cut off by a sleek white surface. She landed and the momentum almost pushed her forward, but Neve managed to keep herself still. 

[One down. A lot more to go.] 

She took the next jump without thinking about it too hard. As long as she kept the earlier measuring she'd done in mind, she felt all she needed was to move toward her goal. 

It helped that she wasn't too scared of falling. 

No, as she cleared one block after another, Neve's heartbeats did not change. 

[It's just not that bad a way to go, relatively speaking. If I fuck up, then, oh well. The only part I don't like is that Tamira might just get a laugh out of it. That does actually bother me.] 

That little nugget of information acted as pretty much all the motivation Neve needed to push herself to try her hardest here. 

One after another, Neve leaped from one block to the next, her progress marked by the echoing tink sound that would come out from her short heels tapping against the blocks. 

Some of her memories from the other times she'd had to go through similar gauntlets came back to her mind. 

A smile almost tugged at her lips. 

[God, I was so fucking scared.] 

As she got closer to the chest, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. The blocks near the objective were moving. 

The next square, directly in front of Neve, was slowly shifting from the left to the right. The ones just beyond that one were doing the same, but much faster. Finally, the block directly in front of the chest was rising and falling at a rapid rate. 

Neve's eyes tracked the movements of the square in front of her until she was sure about what the right timing would be, and she jumped. 

Landing on this platform, she nodded to herself and went to do it again. 

It got easier with each step. 

More memories began to slip into her mind's eye, almost like the moment she had a few seconds ago had breached a dam of some sort. 

[... Hard to believe that it's been months since all of this started. It all kind of passed in the blink of an eye.] 

Before she knew it, she was standing before the vertical challenge, just before she could reach the chest, with her next square moving up and down in front of her. 

[And... Now.] 

Neve waited for it to go down and jumped forward. The square snapped back up in an instant, but she was able to make it on top before it could bounce her off. 

From there, making it to the chest was easy. 

Waiting for the square to reach its highest point, Neve jumped forward and reached her objective. 

[There we go. Now, what's in here?] 

Neve opened the chest up and found... 

Ahlakan's Heart

{Unique} 

{Accessory} 

{Enhances the effects of all potions consumed or poisons used}

{Val: 15000 WST} 

{Note: Amulet showcasing the heart of a talented alchemist. The alchemist died after her closest friend left her all alone, defenseless, chasing an enemy who was closer than she thought. How tragic.} 

Neve's lips parted on their own. Her hands froze, still gripping the chest she'd just opened. She stared at the item.  A silver amulet holding the depiction of a humanoid heart cut in half. 

"Hehehe," Tamira began to giggle in Neve's mind. "You know, after seeing how everything played out, I couldn't exactly just leave all of that in the past! Designing these worlds, these items you use and the trials you face, it's all an art form. And, art can be highly referential, you know?" 

Neve lowered her head, remaining silent. 

"So, I figured that future players should have something like this. A little easter egg... Ah, it's funny, though. You know what Ahlakan's last thoughts were as she watched Thomas walk up to her with some fairly negative intentions? She was wondering if you would appear and save her like some knight in shining armor. And, she died feeling... well, quite a bit of pain, since Thomas did not bother killing her quickly, but also feeling rather disappointed that you weren't there for her the one time she needed you. I think there's something poetic in that." 

After a while, Neve put the item in her inventory and finally turned around, beginning to jump onto the platforms again. 

"Still giving me the silent treatment, eh? I figured. Comedy is pretty subjective, after all. Ah, but, I wonder, if you could say something to that girl, what would it be? Would you apologize? Would you be happy to see her or would it be a bother? You know, since you've already moved on from all of that so quickly and all." 

Neve's eyes tracked the movements of the blocks nearby. She waited for the optimal moments and kept jumping, slowly making her way to the exit. 

"Hm. Oh, I know! Maybe hearing her might make you think of an answer. How about it?" 

Neve stopped. Instinctively, her brows pushed together. The healer quickly scolded herself, though, and kept going. 

"N-Neve?" A different voice appeared in her mind. One that was younger, less shrill, and so very familiar. "You're alright! Wow, I'm glad you've made it this far!" 

Neve did not respond. 

"No? Still nothing?" Tamira asked. "Ah, I tried. But, even though I can replicate her voice, It's hard to replicate the way she would have talked to you since I have my own personality. Anyway, so, do you have any feedback for me?"

Neve was just a few blocks away from the exit now. Admittedly, all of the last ones she'd jumped had been a blur. 

"I'm open to constructive criticism with regard to my Ahlakan impression. In fact, heck, maybe, if you ask nicely, I could imitate her in a... different way." 

As Neve stood before the final block, Tamira appeared physically in front of her. The snake quickly changed forms, however, becoming the person to whom that earlier voice had belonged. 

Neve pulled back, nearly falling off the square. 

Tamira walked up and wrapped her arms around Neve, though, the human couldn't actually feel her. 

"How about it? My superiors would probably find it entertaining so, if you want, I could make it so that it would be like Ahlakan never left at all, hahahaha." 

As Tamira gave that low cackle, Neve walked straight through her and jumped up toward the exit. 

She reached it. A white hall stretching forward welcomed her for doing so. 

"Though, if some good sex is all you want, I suppose you can still use Erin for that. She's just a summon anyway. She wouldn't mind."  0

With those final words, Tamira, thankfully, left Neve's mind. 

Neve brought her staff out and healed herself once with {Great Healing Dart}. 

Because, she'd been biting down on her cheeks so hard she drew blood. 

Then, she summoned Erin in front of her. 

"Well," the lamia quickly said, "it might interest you to know that the fall was... quite long. I spent approximately three minutes falling before everything went dark. Judging by that, it seems that encountering this horde does not actually count as fighting, since I failed to disappear automatically. I... Neve?" 

Neve shook her head. 

"Huh?" 

"Are you alright? You seemed rather distant, just now." 

Neve nodded a few times. 

"Yep, I'm good. Just... I realized something, is all." 

"When you put it like that it almost sounds frightening," Erin replied with a half smirk. "Shall we continue?" 

"Mhm." Neve brought out her sword as well. "Let's keep going." 

And with that, the two of them moved down the corridor, while Neve kept her hands in a white knuckle grip around her weapons. 

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