Chapter 118: The Book of Lucy Reed
🕑 Added 2024-10-27 21:34:15 +0000 UTCThe Book of Lucy Reed
Page 1
This book, a journal like my Creator’s, is a record of my life thus far. Dante's religion says that my book is supposed to be written to help future generations. That the best way forward on my path in life is to help those who form their paths behind mine. I hope that is what people see when they read it.
Later today, we’ll be entering the Conservatory-a training planet created by Walker and the Elders to help prepare us for the difficulties of living on Symphony. I want to do right by my Creator, but I worry, as always, that I am not enough. I can only discover if I am by entering…
We shall see.
I do feel something strange, though. An itching between my shoulder blades, and only until recently do I think I’ve found what it is.
Crescendo calls to me.
Page 2
Runner did something new today. We all received an announcement that the first human sapient had killed a monster. After returning to our small group, she spoke to no one. Instead, she walked into a meditation tent, then walked out differently than she had entered— like she could see everything happening around her.
I don’t know what to make of that.
I do know that I can’t fall behind. While everyone on Crescendo expected me to make the first kill, I knew it would be my friend instead. She doesn’t need people as much as I do. Although, perhaps need isn’t the right word. She’s better on her own, while I’m better as part of a team. Walker called it a party, although that’s another word that doesn’t sit right with me.
Tomorrow, I’m leading several teams of Founders, parties, into the forest. We’ve been here for a short time, but I feel we need to get a move on. Runner’s victory over the Wolves has lit a spark in our camp. Everyone wants to get moving and find their Masteries, to develop skills. I admit that I’m ready as well.
I hope no one gets too hurt.
Pages 3-4
I killed a Drop Bear today. It’s the strangest thing.
I’ve killed livestock before, back on Sonata. At the time, Ares had said we needed to kill something so we wouldn’t hesitate when entering the Conservatory, but that was a relatively docile creature filled with succulent meat. This was different.
We were walking through the forest on our second scouting trip in as many days. I had decided to rotate with different parties to ensure everyone was alert and aware of the dangers of this place. Today, I’d grouped up with Balian and a few of the Professionals. Even though they’d decided to focus on crafting, like many of the Founders, that didn’t make them any less trained or deadly in a fight than myself.
Each moved silently, as Elder Artemis had taught us, ensuring that our steps and feet would make the least amount of sound possible. But still, we were found.
Something dropped from the air on a path directly to Bailan’s face. It was only by the brief whisper of wind that we were aware it was coming. As it fell, Bailan instinctively took a half-step back, meaning the creatures claws, glowing a vibrant green, only scored him on the side of the cheek rather than the eyes it was aiming for. The large man howled in pain before bringing down his powerful hammer, killing the creature in a single strike.
But it was only the first.
Everyone who trained under Elder Rimi knew that Drop Bears existed within Symphony. The odds of seeing them on Crescendo were high, and that was drilled into us from the beginning. But they didn’t tell us that multiple Drop Bears might work together. After the first died, that seemed to ignite something within the rest. Suddenly, it was raining furry, angry creatures in various glowing patterns.
I stepped forward to help my party, cutting them down with the Edge Shields built for me by Elder Hephaestus. One, two, three moves, and three were dead. My steps were light, and my movements were quick, but still, my party became injured. It seemed not to matter that I was moving faster and better as the battle continued. Bailan, the first of us injured, fell to a knee, his great hammer on the ground.
That was almost the end of him. The veins in his face had turned a putrid green, small, nearly minuscule plant life pushing themselves from his wound. It wasn’t long before more of our party showed similar signs, and then I was alone, fighting against falling creatures who, with a single cut. can take me down. I wore myself out quickly, protecting my friends from danger.
I didn’t like that feeling—the helplessness. The powerlessness.
When the last Drop Bear was slain by my hand, it took me some time to recover. Eventually, I and one other managed to drag our party back to the camp. Each of our members survived, though it was a close thing, with Keeper Arachne ministrating to our wounded with a keen eye. Even though Bailan will forevermore have a long, deep scar highlighted in green across his face, the stalwart man was already making jokes that women would enjoy seeing such a mark of survival.
I see no humor in almost dying.
There’s a new flashing…thing in my interface. I assume this happens when you kill a monster for the first time. While I feel a need to dive into what the next steps are, I believe I will wait until tomorrow. Walker’s Scripture spoke of time healing wounds, and I may need just a little.
Pages 5-6
I met with a God today.
Walker likes to tell us he isn’t one, but even among the Elders and my Patron, I’ve never quite felt something so surreal as meeting the one named Ulysses. The moment I crossed the portal’s threshold and wound up in the white room, there was a charged feeling in the air around me. Then, as the figure appeared from nowhere, that feeling increased in drastic measures.
Walker has a way of bringing the eye to him, as if he is the only person in the world who matters. Ulysses has the same, only, it’s as if he’s the only person in existence who matters.
He asked me who I wanted to become. He told me he’d seen parts of my life already. He also told me some of what is expected to happen.
I told him, I want to be a shield for all. One who protects, as well as cuts. Someone who will be there to accept the damage of their foes. A powerful force to be reckoned with.
So, the God did something I didn’t expect. After requesting some saliva, a unique experience in my mind, he showed me…me. Multiple times. Dozens of times. And each had a different mastery.
One focused on a profession, of all things. She became a dancer, and yet, she’d transformed her dancing into fighting. It was miraculous to watch her graceful movements-a woman with my face, my body, dancing across a field with two heavy shields on her arms. I admit to finding that particular Profession overall mesmerizing. As she finished her dance, she stood on the side and smiled at me without speaking.
The second version didn’t use shields at all, but instead, focused on one large pole of wood while wearing a lighter ensemble. I’ll admit to not being impressed; it being a significant difference from my current style. But the third version, that was a unique experience for me.
The third version of myself spoke to me directly, again saying I should pick a profession, only this time, one focused on Leadership. She spoke of how her skills evolved with her, allowing her to better manage her party, with options for it to grow as long as she did. She spoke eloquently, seeming to put my fears of losing martial strength to rest. But something within me, deep down there, didn’t like what I was hearing. When she stood to the side and smiled, I didn’t smile back.
But the god did.
He pulled out several more versions of me, each appearing from an opening in the air as they showed me different styles of Masteries and Professions. Everything from blacksmithing and tanning to javelin-throwing appeared before me, but none seemed to fit. Eventually, new Lucy’s stopped appearing from the portal, a row of women who looked just like me standing in a line. But still, I wasn’t satisfied. I thought to myself, this is a choice I’m likely making for the rest of my life. It has to be…me.
The god seemed to sense my problem and did something unusual. He offered me a special Mastery, designed specifically for me.
He called it the Golden Shield.
After a brief introduction to the skills involved, I accepted, but not before asking one question: What happens to all of the Lucys he’d shown me?
He explained that where he lived, time moved much faster than where I am now. And that each Lucy would go to another world he has prepared. One, where they can live out the full length of their lives. Satisfied, I accepted my Mastery in the system, and then, I knew what true pain felt like.
Page 7
My new skills are incredible, although leveling them up is a rare moment of frustration in my life. Since my creation, I’ve had a relatively uncomplicated relationship with the training my Elders gave me. However, skills do not work the same way.
Take my Shield techniques skill as an example. Leveling it from one to five was as easy as breathing. I move my arm, a twitch settles it into place before an attack, and the skill recognizes I know what I am doing. That’s how I gained my first level. Simple, right?
But, after a few simple exercises outside of the rigors of battle, I had an odd feeling. I entered a fight with a pair of wolves, both in the Tier-Three range. As I defended myself, a funny feeling came over me. It was like my body wanted me to throw my shield at an opponent.
But why would I do that? I’d then have to continue the fight with only one unless I miraculously could retrieve the thrown object. The moment I had that thought, the feeling went away, and another came in its place. This time, as I rolled across the ground, sharp sounds whispering to my ears from overhead, I pushed off my shields on the ground and gained extra speed to my movement. The thing is…
I’ve never once thought to move that way.
As my skills level up, I am forced to question who will be in control: me or the Golden Shield?
Page 8
We have pushed far from the camp, leaving it behind. Some few stayed, unable to manage the vigors of battle. I did not look down on them, as this way of life is not for everyone. As the Creator says, we all have our paths to walk.
As we settled in for the evening, Walker appeared on Crescendo, exiting a cut in the air that disappeared following his arrival. He took aside three of us, Runner, Hank, and I, and pulled us far from our fellow Founders. He told us he had a special quest, one of which only we three could potentially fulfill, and that there would be a great reward attached to it.
But he also told us it might get us killed. Even though my Creator and namesake spoke of how dangerous the quest was, the only thing in my mind that I could hear was that he needed this to be done, that it was something that could help him. Stepping forward first, I volunteered to take on the trial.
I do not know what Runner and Hank’s quests are, but Walker did tell me mine. He pulled me away from the other two and explained it was called the Trial of Magni. It would involve a great deal of pain, but if I managed to survive it, I would gain almost unheard-of power.
When I agreed, Walker asked me to place my hand on a large book he pulled from his Inventory. Placing my hand on it, Walker’s eyes met my own when I felt it. The skin on my hand, the one holding the book, began to part as if a knife were cutting into it. I did my best not to cry out or make a noise, but the more the cut appeared, the greater the pain became.
Crying on the ground unashamedly, Walker said he was proud of me with a gentle pat on the back. I asked him to leave me be and looked at my hand. A large M sat on the back of it, and it hurt worse than anything I could have imagined. Standing up, a series of screens appeared, congratulating me for accepting the Trial of Magni.
It said any form of pain I felt would be magnified multiple times over, and that my skin, bones, and organs would be far easier to hurt. But it also said that what I lost during the trial, I would gain back many-fold.
I stood up and noticed a scrape on the heel of my left foot began to throb in pain immediately. It was a small thing, something I’d considered inconsequential. But now, each second felt like a knife digging into me moment by moment.
This quest may be my death.
Page 9
We defeated the Crescendo guardian today, but not without losses. As promised, it sat within the center of the planet. We knew what we were in for the moment we found a large metal sphere peaking just outside of the forest.
Two Founders, Jackson and Samuel, perished not long after we entered. The Hydra, a multi-headed creature we had never seen before, killed them in such horrible ways I shudder to imagine what they must have felt. While I might say it was our first time encountering a Tier-Five monster, or that we had prepared as best as we could, if I’m honest with myself, it is largely my fault.
I had little impact on the fight.
The first bit of lightning that touched me sent me into a spiral of pain so profound that I had to be dragged out of the area quickly. Runner, who since accepting Walker’s quest had become slow and feeble, couldn’t use her skills to distract it, as she usually did when we faced Tier-Four creatures. Hank could not call out our strategies, as since his quest began, he hasn’t spoken a word.
All combined, our group of twenty-seven were three short, four if you count the Founder who pulled me out. Thus, when the fight truly began, and the Hydra had tested our group and found us weak, Samuel was left in the open. I’m told he took a faceful of acid and died choking. Sophie, in her grief, attempted to save what could only have been a corpse, leading to Jackson sacrificing himself in turn to save her, a burnt skeleton all that remained of him.
Yes, they managed to kill the monster, but it was a long fight with many injuries for the Founders. Many scars.
I need my trial to end. I need this to go away.
No amount of power is worth the loss of my friends.
Tonight we get to go back to Sonata, to “relax” for a few days. Then, it’s onward to Melody, the water planet. Walker told us that each planet within the Conservatory would be more difficult than the last.
I hope, for once, that he was wrong.
Page 10
We’ve spent a month on Melody, and thus far, I have learned one thing that matters most.
Fuck all Dolphins.
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Jeremy Young
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