OverXelous
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Chapter 55 - Decompress
🕑 Added 2024-12-05 14:00:01 +0000 UTCAlex paced back and forth in the park. There was a small path leading in a circle with some benches in the middle where Sam was sitting.
“Alex.” Sam sent him the feeling of an exacerbated sigh followed by a feeling of comfort and confidence.
Hey, hey. Don’t you start! You weren’t even there to see it. She made me wait two days before wanting to meet up, I’ve got to try and explain what happened.
Sam sighed, causing a cloud of smoke to float from his mouth.
Don’t be all mopey and bored.
“Cold.”
Alex laughed.
You didn’t have to come. You could have stayed in the apartment.
He shrugged. “Then I’m bored.”
Rolling his eyes, Alex scooped up some snow. Sam shook his head and held up his hands as Alex compacted the snow into a ball and tossed it at the small healer.
The next ten minutes of waiting was taken up by a heated battle. As Alex sprawled out in the snow behind a tree, he heard approaching footsteps.
Got you now!
He stepped out and lobbed the packed snow. It hit Olivia square in the forehead.
As the snow fell from her face, Alex could see her dead-pan expression. From a short distance away, he heard a body hit the ground as Sam laughed and clutched at his sides.
After apologizing profusely and explaining what was happening, Alex walked with Olivia to the bench that Sam had been sitting on. The teenager gave them some space at Alex’s request.
They sat in silence for a few moments before Alex took a deep breath and jumped right in.
“Look, I just wanted to apologize. A lot has happened recently, and I owe you an explanation. First off, I want you to know I was stuck in a Rift for the last week. I wasn’t ghosting you.”
Olivia tilted her head as she looked at him closely. “I guess that explains the scar- and, you know…”
“My eye? Yeah. All from the Rift.”
“But who was at your apartment, and why not just wait to explain this to me? I mean, I really don’t want to come off all jealous here, it’s just a bit confusing. She’s your best friend… and what? Ex-girlfriend.”
Fuck.
He let out an audible groan before nodding. “Look, Sarah and I dated for a bit in college, but it just didn’t work out. There haven’t been feelings there for a long time. It may look a bit more than that, but Mark and Sarah talk with me every day. You thought I ghosted you? Well, they thought I had died. Apparently, they came to my apartment a few times and could tell I wasn’t home, and my phone was off…” He let the explanation taper off. “There really isn’t anything going on there. She was just scared and confused after finding out that I was actually alive.”
Olivia sighed as well but nodded in understanding. “That’s good to know,” She put her hands in her bomber jacket pockets. “I don’t do well with drama. If this is a tangled mess, I’m really not interested in whatever this is.”
Alex looked up at the pole lights that surrounded the circular path in the park. After gathering his thoughts, he decided to take a bit of a leap.
I’m not who I was. I need to stand up for what I want.
“You asked why I didn’t wait to have you come over? The answer is I just didn’t want to wait.” He felt heat rise in his cheeks despite the freezing evening air. Looking over, he caught a slight smile, which gave him the confidence to continue. “The Rift I was stuck in… the one that we were stuck in,” Alex nodded his head toward Sam, who was inspecting a tree with an odd amount of interest. “I was stuck in there for two months.”
Olivia’s breath hissed as she looked at him sharply. Alex let it hang in the air for a minute.
“Sam was stuck in there for over a year.” Alex watched the teenager squatting at the base of the tree.
“So, what?” She did some quick mental math, “It was an Epic Rift?”
Alex nodded.
“Eight times dilation. I don’t think they’ve even found one of those yet.”
“Well, I entered to get some information so that I could sell it to the Guild. And got trapped inside.”
“Trapped?”
“Well, it was really more my fault than the Rift’s fault…” Alex nodded and looked back at Olivia.
Time to spill it.
“Look, I’m happy to tell you about everything that happened. But I just wanted to tell you that, so you understood… I was running and fighting for my life almost every day in the Rift. I’m not the same person that walked in there last week. I don’t think my friends have realized that yet, but it’s the truth.” He paused, thinking about how to say the right words. Taking the flat of his palm, he rubbed his beanie back and forth a few times.
He started again. “I’m really not the same, so I’m not sure what was built here before would keep working anyway. Shit, wait. I mean, I hope it does- but I’m just trying to say that it feels like the world is only now trying to decide if they are going to “accept” the Awakened.” He shook his head. “I am all in on this life. I’m not going back to a normal life or a normal job. Earth is changing and I actually like the changes, despite how brutal it can be. You live in this life already, so I think you know what I mean.”
Olivia nodded and gave him another smile, this one a bit more open.
“Even if I did have any sort of remaining feelings for Sarah, which I don’t, I feel like that was a completely different life. I’ve killed people, and I still haven’t even fully come to grips with that…” There was more he wanted to say. He just wasn’t sure how to say it.
“Look. All of that makes sense, and I believe you… I just don’t want to do complicated. We can see where this goes. I just don’t want any games.”
Alex nodded, “Alright. No games.”
Olivia sniffed while smirking. “Honestly, it wasn’t even about her. I was more confused about the mask on your face. Neat bit of magic, that. Wanna tell me the secret?”
“Oh, come on. Not even a little jealous?”
“Pshhh,” Olivia let out a dramatic breath through her teeth. “Me? Jealous? Not a chance.” They both laughed, and she leaned over to bump his shoulder with her own.
“Alright, alright.” Alex laughed and as he felt the mood return to normal, he broached a question that had bothered him since Sunday. “What was up with your comments about the Hunter’s Association.”
Olivia stiffened next to him for a moment before answering, “Really know how to keep the mood alive, huh?”
Alex chuckled.
Is it hot in here?
“I’ll tell you about it if you fill me in on what happened with you in the Rift.”
“Fair enough. Where should I start?”
“From the beginning, but before you start, introduce me to Sam? He reminds me of someone.”
Alex glanced at her before sending out a thread of mana.
Olivia seemed to notice it snaking along the footprint-covered snow, though she didn’t say anything.
After he asked Sam to join them, he introduced the two, and Alex was surprised at how soft Olivia’s demeanor became. Sam responded well to her and flopped into a seated position across from the two in the snow.
Olivia wants to know about the Rift. I’m going to tell her my story. Are you willing to listen to it again?
Sam just nodded and leaned back on his hands while kicking the snow off of his own boots and extending his legs.
“What are you doing with your mana?” Olivia asked.
“Talking to Sam. Sorry, it’s a bit rude but we’ve been talking like that for weeks. I just asked if he was willing to hear me tell the story again.”
Sam nodded again, unbothered.
“Well, it all started when I was leaving Elana’s last Sunday.” Alex began telling his story again. Just like when he told Sarah and Mark, he avoided giving specifics about his level or how quickly he had progressed. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to make sure that people didn’t think it was a good thing to go and do what he did, and he didn’t want them to think that he thought it was a good idea. The event had been traumatic in a way Alex had never understood possible. The last thing he wanted was to try to make the experience sound cool.
Olivia was particularly interested in the Mana Spinners, fascinated by their control over magic and their ability to communicate through connecting mana webs.
He told her about his escape from the Firstborn in the tunnels and his fighting retreat toward the Rift exit. He tried to breeze past the exact numbers of Shadow Sect members that he killed, but it was painfully obvious to him that she was watching him closely. When he got to the fight with Hong Xui, she touched his shoulder and asked him to take off the mask he was wearing.
Alex pulled it off, and she looked at his eye closely and the puckered flesh across his face. Silence hung in the air, and Sam broke it with a comical cough. The flush in his cheeks wasn’t hidden this time as he pretended to glare at the boy.
“Practice your meditation or something; the story is for her, not you!” Alex leaned forward and ruffled the boy’s hair, but with the beanie in the way, it just served to pull it down over his eyes.
Alex continued to tell the story of his capture and how he met Sam. He breezed past most of the fight that happened in the market, and Sam just shook his head. He talked about all of his training through Master Li, Master Shen, and Eura. Olivia asked several questions about the Celestial Lotus Sect Head and about his personality.
It was at this time that the surrounding space changed. Sam, sitting a few feet in front of the pair, lit up in his mana vision. Green sparks flitted around him before expanding in a several-meter radius around him. Grass began to grow around him in a large circle, and Olivia gasped. Even to the naked eye, it appeared that the grass of the park was growing up at a visible rate through the snow.
Atta boy, Sam.
Alex smiled and decided not to draw more attention to Sam, knowing that it was good practice for him and was happy that he felt comfortable enough for the trait to activate. Returning to his explanation about Eura, he talked about the man at length and his admiration for how he handled the Council. This led to further explanation of their last two weeks in the Rift and the tension that had built before the battle.
Olivia gasped again at appropriate times during their fight against the Firstborn’s forces and how they barely made the escape from the Rift. Alex talked about how crucial Sam’s healing abilities were and how helpful all of his martial training had been.
She asked for a demonstration of his [Feather Step] ability, intrigued by the mechanics he’d explained about the skill and how he’d created it from a [Shadow Step] manual. He smiled and stood from the bench before taking a few steps away.
He paused and looked at the tree Sam had been inspecting about 15 meters away. He set the point and activated the ability. As he pushed off at a lazy pace, he felt his weight almost completely disappear. The snow near his feet kicked up, and his jacket floated up around him in a dramatic fashion. He touched down lightly after a few lazy pushes, loving the way that he felt when he was gliding along with the ability. On his way back, he pushed off in one strong push, clearing the distance in a fraction of the original time.
Olivia whistled appreciatively, and Alex smiled. He reached into the spatial back, which he’d tucked into the inside pocket of his winter coat, and removed the manual he’d found in the altar room. He handed it to her.
She took it and read the cover aloud.
“Do you have an inspect or analyze ability?” he asked her.
“No,” she answered as she shook her head and leafed through the first few pages of the book.
“It’s consumable, so the System should be able to prompt you to consume it and absorb the knowledge instantly if you want to.”
Her eyes went wide and she looked at him. “You can’t give me this. Are you serious? Have you seen what something like this costs at the Auction House? It’s like a few hundred thousand dollars.” She tried to hand it back to him, but he held up his hands.
“Look, seriously, I don’t want it. I want you to have it, no conditions attached.”
She looked uneasy.
“Seriously, even if we never talk again from today forward, I won’t regret giving this to you. It fits your kit perfectly, and I’ve already studied it to get what I want out of it.” He shrugged and said, “If you want to just study it and learn what you can and turn around and sell it, you can do that too. I didn’t know they were worth that much.”
Olivia looked at him at the mention of money.
“I don’t want any money. Gah, it’s a gift. Don’t make me feel bad for giving it to you. I’m sure the Guild is going to pay me and Sam a stupid amount of money for the information about the Rift. I did mention that it’s D Rank now, right? That’s probably more worth it to them than the Epic Rarity.”
She raised her eyebrow skeptically, “No way.”
“Yes, way,” Alex chuckled. He fished out his last purple Mana Stone and held it up. “This is a D Rank Mana Stone. I know everyone wants these things and a ton of trade is based around the E Rank ones. I’ve got to imagine having a D Rank Rift where they can get these will be extremely valuable.” He waved the stone in the air.
“Okay, well, thank you. This is incredible, it looks like it really does fit with my kit perfectly.” She clutched the book to her chest and gathered her thoughts for a moment.
In the following minutes, Olivia told them both her story. Much like Sam, she was one of the first people to really be affected by the Rifts before people even really knew what they were. She told them about how a Rift was found near her small town and that the National Guard had been called in during October. They had quarantined the Rift and told everyone that it was safe and the problem was solved.
Alex winced as she explained to him what a Rift break was.
“It’s what happens if no monsters are killed within the Rift. After a certain amount of time, the mana builds, and there is a Rift break. A wave of the monsters within are able to leave the Rift and enter the real world. The articles I’ve read about it on the AG app say that not all of the Rift can come out at once, only a small portion at a time, periodically. But… they were enough to do serious damage.”
Olivia continued her story and told them about how the National Guard had been routed because they were so under-prepared and largely performing tests on the odd tear in space. Monsters descended on her hometown and killed almost everyone. At the time, Olivia was living with her best friend, Maya, who had a son named Liam. When an enormous bug monster burst into their apartment, it killed Maya within a few seconds, and it was trying to get into the bathroom to kill Liam.
“I grabbed a kitchen knife and fought it right there in the living room.” She stared at the ground as she touched the knife that Alex could see was still strapped to her waist.
I guess that explains why she always has a knife on her.
There was some silence, though it wasn’t awkward, just filled with pain and genuine sympathy.
Olivia finished her story by telling them that Maya’s parents lived in Hoboken. When she didn’t know where to go, she’d brought Liam down to live with his grandparents and decided to pick up a bartending job nearby to stay close to the boy.
She said that, in some ways, Sam reminded her of Liam. She asked the teen if he’d be willing to spend some time with Liam, even though he was a few years older.
Sam opened his eyes, having been listening while meditating. As his eyes met hers, the {Nature’s Refuge} space around him continued to pulse warm and refreshing mana. He smiled at her brightly and nodded.
They made some more small talk about things that had been happening since he’d been gone. She scoffed at the stupidity behind how much hype was being built around Rifts now that a social media influencer and streamer was building an event around it. Mainly because so many people wrote it off as fake when videos were around and even the Hunters Association was announced. She equated it to the time the government announced aliens were real, and everyone just ignored it because they didn’t see the proof or that it had just been a conspiracy theory for too long.
Alex was happy to note that by the end of the conversation, Olivia was sitting a lot closer to him than at the start. She stood to leave and told Alex that there was a meet up at Elana’s on Friday. She asked if he wanted to meet her there while warning him that the meeting would be a bigger one than normal since Elana was inviting most of the Guild members on the East Coast to come if they wanted to make the drive for an Early Christmas Party.
Alex smiled at the idea and agreed.
As Olivia walked away, Alex watched her go. It was because he was watching that he saw a white blur fly from his peripheral vision and smack into the back of her red beanie.
Olivia turned around slowly and Alex’s eyes went wide. When he turned to look at Sam, he saw that the boy had an innocent look on his face and was pointing a single finger at Alex.
Oh, you little shit.
Comments
Alan
So is little sammy boy always gonna be a little cockblocker and go on his not-dates? 😂
V L
I’m so happy. 😭
PWeygandt
Of course! I am really excited to see what his deal is! Obviously he doesn't want to leave Alex so I am assuming he is a kid from a troubled home. Maybe Sarah can help him with some stuff as an awakened psychologist
OverXelous
Are you happy Sam made it out? 😁
V L
coming back after that heated moment, Olivia and Alex also communicated clearly and laid out their boundaries. It’s good stuff. Just frustrating. 😆
V L
SAME.
V L
I mean, not really. It reads as junior high school because of the dramatic irony. Olivia and Alex were 100% in that ‘talking to’ phase of dating, aka the pre-dating phase with intent. Then he ghosts her for a week and she walks in on him and his… girlfriend? I’d be mad too lol. I know I’m not trying to be anyone’s side woman. We’re experiencing the mismatch of stakes and information between all parties. We’re feeling the absurdity of the situation, and the frustration Alex is feeling, I’m sure.
Mason
How old are these two? This relationship/jealousy plot feels junior high school.
PWeygandt
The only frustrating thing about this story is that I am already caught up 😑
Rip Woodham
Thank you for the chapter! <3
Beeees!
It's great seeing Sam coming out of his shell
Ron
He reached into the spatial back, **spatial bag**
