Sighing, Freddy moved to a nearby chair, sat down, and slowly opened the letter.
There were two sections written in distinctly different handwriting. The first was written extremely sloppily.
I DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND THE FULL STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND SOPHIA, BUT I GET THE GIST OF IT. FOR WHAT ITS WORTH, I THINK YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT.
I JUST WANTED TO SAY—
There was a small section that had been thoroughly scribbled over.
—THAT I ACKNOWLEDGE YOU MADE FOR AN EASY TARGET WHEN I WAS ANGRY.
Another section was messily scratched out.
LOOK. I’M NEVER GOING TO BE ENTIRELY AT PEACE WITH WHAT HAPPENED. I’VE COME TO TERMS WITH THAT. BUT I CAN AT LEAST SEE THAT YOU’RE ALSO A VICTIM. I DON’T THINK YOU EVER WANTED TO BE FORCED TO CHOOSE WHO LIVES AND DIES.
THE PERSON I MET THAT DAY DIDN’T SEEM LIKE HE WOULD WANT THAT.
I GET THAT YOU’RE NOT COOL WITH WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO. AND I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT, TOO. BUT I CAN’T CONTINUE TO LIVE IN THIS SICK DISGUSTING WORLD. MAYBE TODAY YOU’RE TOO TIRED TO KEEP FIGHTING. BUT I KNOW YOU’LL COME AROUND. OR MAYBE YOU’LL FIGHT IN YOUR OWN WAY.
I JUST KNOW I DON’T WANT US TO BE ENEMIES. I DON’T THINK WE HAVE TO BE.
There was another section that was scribbled over, but this time, Freddy could make out a few words.
////THIS /////////////SICK TO SAY//////////////CARE OF HER////////SOMETHING////////KNOW IT//////////PLEASE/////////
Then under that:
IF IT ISN’T TOO MUCH TROUBLE FOR YOU, COULD YOU PLEASE MAKE SURE JANICE IS ALIVE AND WELL?
THAT’S IT FROM ME.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, FREDDY. I HOPE YOU FIND A WAY TO HEAL YOUR SOUL AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST. YOU DESERVE IT.
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE. I HOPE WE MEET AGAIN SOME DAY.
This was where the messy section ended and Sophia’s neat handwriting started.
I DIDN’T FORCE HIM TO COME WITH ME. I DIDN’T ASK HIM TO JOIN ME TO SPITE YOU OR ANYTHING. IT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED WHEN I CAME OVER TO TELL HIM TO KEEP MY POWERS A SECRET FROM ANYONE WHO MIGHT ASK.
I WAS ANGRY AT YOU AND I SAID SOME STUFF I DIDN’T REALLY MEAN. PLEASE DON’T HATE ME.
I MIGHT BE FORCED TO DO SOMETHING UGLY TO MAKE REAL CHANGE. BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I DON’T INTEND TO DO ANYTHING TO HURT PEOPLE WHO DON’T DESERVE IT.
IF THAT FATE OF YOURS WORKS THE WAY YOU SAY, THEN I KNOW WE WILL MEET AGAIN SOME DAY. FULL DISCLOSURE, I EXPECT YOU TO BE ABLE TO SLAP ME INTO THE VOID BY THAT POINT, SO PLEASE DON’T KILL ME.
He chuckled at that.
UNTIL THEN, PLEASE GET LAID A FEW TIMES. RESPECTFULLY, OF COURSE. :)
AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STAY AWAY FROM THAT EMILY CHICK, SHE WILL CRUSH YOUR POOR LITTLE INNOCENT HEART.
ADIOS, PARTNER.
UNTIL NEXT TIME.
Below that was a little drawing of a cute cartoon rabbit holding its arms up, fists clenched, and shouting “DON’T GIVE UP!”
Freddy slowly folded the paper, then tucked it away into his storage.
“What did it say?” Travis asked, then scowled as Freddy looked up at him. “Are you okay?”
Freddy wiped the tears streaming down the side of his face with his sleeve and let out a tired sigh. “I’m good.” And then, just as he tried to get up, he felt an all-too-familiar pang of pain shoot through his soul.
Seriously? was the only thing he had time to think as he passed out, stumbling to the wooden floor.
***
Freddy woke up on a couch in a room that he’d technically never been in, but even then, the sheer luxury—not to mention the familiar theme—gave it away.
“Oh, you’re awake,” the adjudicator said, clearly relieved. “I was starting to think you’re a goner.”
“What happened?” Freddy asked as he slowly got into a seated position, wincing at the extreme headache shooting through his skull.
“I’m guessing you overtaxed your soul somehow.”
“Ah.” Freddy winced again. “Yeah. How long have I been out?”
“We only have an hour left until they pick us up.” The adjudicator gave him an awkward smile. “I really hope you didn’t have other things to take care of.”
The image of Thor’s grave passed through Freddy’s mind. “There were a few other places I wanted to visit, but nothing important.”
“Good. It would be best if we stayed here for the remainder of the wait, just in case they feel like coming a bit early.”
Freddy sighed and nodded. He rubbed a finger along his temple, but it didn’t do shit against the strange pain he felt.
The adjudicator gave him a long look. “You have a headache?”
He nodded. “Yeah… You ask like there’s something weird about that.”
“There is. Soul damage doesn’t cause headaches.”
Freddy paused. “Then what—”
“Soul healing, however…”
He immediately dove into his soul. At first, he didn’t see much of a difference but upon closer look, some of the cracks seemed just a bit more stable than they had been. Freddy scowled. “Hey… How does soul damage work, anyway? I swear I’ve seen it heal a bit here and there, and I’m confused.”
“You don’t know anything about soul damage?”
“No.”
The adjudicator nodded. “Good. Best wait until you meet a professional.”
“Why?” Freddy asked, resisting the urge to say this wasn’t the first time he heard someone say that.
The man pondered the question, as if carefully weighing what to say.
Before he could say anything, Freddy jumped in. “You took that soul healing elixir.”
The adjudicator winced. “Sure did.”
Freddy narrowed his gaze at the man. “I’m starting to think that wasn’t the best choice, was it?”
Sighing, the man leaned back into the couch. “It was a better choice than dying.”
“Again, why?”
“The soul is a delicate thing. Until you’re told the right thing to do, it would be best not to do anything.”
“But why?”
“Ever heard of an infohazard, Freddy?”
Freddy scowled. “A what?”
“Information that puts you at risk for simply knowing it.”
After a long pause, Freddy looked away and said, “I’m starting to think there’s a reason why I’ve never come across any text talking about soul damage.”
“Because it’s illegal to distribute it, yes.”
“All right, then. I’ll stop asking.”
The rest of the wait went by mostly in silence, with the two of them chattering about random subjects. They had a few cups of coffee and some drinks, with Freddy smoking the whole time, his anxiety making him reach for one cigarette after another.
Finally, around twenty minutes ahead of the agreed time, the lanky investigator arrived. “Good. You’re already here. Follow me.”
They were taken to a floating carriage that waited just outside the main building.
It was a comfortable thing, with rather extreme internal expansion. Frankly, you could fit half a mansion in there. There were a number of servants running around, as well.
Freddy had half expected to be put into some kind of cage, but he wasn’t going to complain about a plush room to himself and servants who would bring over nearly anything he asked for.
He settled beside the window in his room, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he looked outside. Moments later, the carriage took off, and he got a good look at Repentawa and the surrounding area.
The walls were mostly whole, with some minor damage remaining here and there. From so high up, the city looked like an impenetrable fortress. The semi-regular monster invasions that appeared every now and then would never bother the people living there again.
Much of the city was empty, with all the people who died leaving a gaping hole behind. It hurt to see, but things were getting better. It was stable, peaceful, and there was an undercurrent of prosperity already blooming under the heavy layers of snow.
Things would be fine. Better, at least.
A tiny smile crept up Freddy’s lips, despite the overbearing ache tearing a hole through the center of his chest.
Just as they were about to take off at full speed, Freddy glanced over at Valhalla’s compound. He paused at what he saw there.
People. Everyone who lived there seemed to be outside, and Freddy’s insane perception was just barely enough to read one of the bigger signs a dozen people were holding up.
WE LOVE YOU, FREDDY!
He chucked. Then, he burst into full-on laughter. And then, the carriage took off, leaving the landscape behind in a blur of motion.
***
It was on the 17th of December, 2218 that Freddy Stern left Repentawa in a flying carriage.
He had spent just a little less than a year in the Northern Belt, which was hard to believe for him. Well, he didn’t count the Century of Solitude, which skewed his perception of time to an impossible level, but even then. There had never been a dull moment throughout the year. Even without the dungeon, it felt like a whole decade had passed.
In the less than three years he’d been an archhuman, he’d been through a lot of shit.
But not all of it was bad, he thought with a small smile.
For some reason, he couldn’t help but feel optimistic.
The Council of Imperial Adjudicators was currently located at Starhold.
Frankly, Freddy wasn’t sure how he felt about going there. He knew very little about the place, but from what little he saw on the BC, it was on the verge of becoming the next capital. The empire was advertising the place pretty aggressively, and it was becoming increasingly clear that they wanted as many people to move there as possible.
The ever-cynical part of Freddy thought it was just because they wanted more cannon fodder to throw at their expansion attempts, and this time, the rest of him had to agree that was probably the case.
But this time, he couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t so bad. Sure, there was no doubt in his mind that a ton of fucked-up shit was going down on Faralethal—he’d personally been part of it—but the whole idea of expanding into another planet… he couldn’t deny the allure of such a project.
His mind went to Georgie’s proposal. Just the thought of striking out into the wilderness of an alien planet to build a new foothold for humanity made him feel all giddy.
And to think that he was the first person to stumble upon the portal leading there… It was crazy to think about.
His thoughts slowly settled, and by the end of the first day of their trip, he was already back to his listless state. At some point in the night, they reached the Northern Spine, and he got to see the proper way to cross the border. They went through a long-ass tunnel, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of how he first arrived here.
What a stupid idea that had been.
The trip quickly devolved into him trying to keep himself occupied, lest he blink away the whole trip in a state of fugue. The BC was great, but books were just a bit better.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop thinking about the adjudicator’s warning on soul damage. Even though he was trying not to, he couldn’t help but make a few conclusions from his personal experience.
Soul damage left behind scars that wouldn’t heal on their own, no matter what. That much he knew for sure, and he could see that exact thing in his own soul. But there was also a lot of damage that seemed to be… softer. That was the part that could heal on its own.
What he couldn’t help but notice, however, was the nature of those moments where he experienced healing. It seemed to be related to moments of value. Impactful experiences that shaped him as a person. So far, he’d only seen his soul heal during positive experiences.
But he couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t the only kind of experience that could help heal the soul.
His heart raced as he forced his mind away from that path of thought.
Yeah, I think I’m starting to see why this information might be illegal to share around.
They first traveled west, seemingly in the opposite direction of where they were going. After about a day, Freddy learned why.
Their detour took them to a portal hub.
Freddy saw the building that was somewhat reminiscent of an old-Earth airport. Inside, a mass of people waited around, carrying luggage and waiting for their group to be called over.
The interspace was highly interconnected.
It wasn’t rare to go out for only a couple of steps and end up in a completely different part of the planet. Freddy had personally seen that over in Repentawa, with that island in the middle of nowhere.
Usually, however, there was relatively little practical value to this phenomenon.
But every once in a while, someone found a series of passages that happened to lead to an extremely convenient location, such as connecting two points of the same country.
This was one such passage.
They only waited for about 20 minutes—much less than the average schmuck who didn’t have four-star bigshots to escort them to a trial—after which they were taken to a gate. There, they lined up on what looked like a rollercoaster cart. After getting seated, the aforementioned cart took off at high speed.
At not one point of the trip did Freddy see anything other than a heavily reinforced metal tunnel.
Hubs like this were heavily optimized for efficiency, and were high-security by necessity.
Not a minute later, they were at their location—a small town on the East Coast, weeks of travel closer to Pittersville than a direct flight route.
After swapping to a different flying carriage—given that the other one had to be left behind—they continued their trip. It still took another three days.
Freddy nearly suffered a panic attack when he entered the city he’d grown up in. It had changed a lot, but even then, the flood of bad memories made it impossible to stay calm. Especially when they approached the hub at the Starhold entrance.
As the one who found the passage, Freddy knew damn well how small it was. It was only about the size of a large double door. Given that countless people and goods were constantly trying to go back and forth through that small hole, it stood to reason that the system around it had to be extremely optimized.
This time, the wait was about 4 hours long, during which Freddy tried his best to stay calm. His nerves were going haywire. The city they were in aside, he was close to his destination. And while he’d thought he built up a lot of bravado, he couldn’t help but feel the butterflies now that he was on the verge of going through the trial.
Once the wait was over, they were loaded into pods. The process was quite a bit more comfortable than the shitty box he’d been shoved into the last time, but functionally the same.
The pod waited for its turn, and once it was time to go, Freddy was blasted through the passage at an insanely high speed, together with god knew how many others. It was a nauseating experience, and he couldn’t help but think that going at this speed was more than a little dangerous for anyone under the second star.
A few seconds later, the pod landed on the other side, opening to let Freddy out.
They were on the other side of the hub, which looked much the same as it did in Pittersville. Although here, Freddy could just feel the immense ether density. It was hardly a wonder that so many were aching to come live here.
He met the others in the lobby, and they headed outside.
Freddy took one step out, and immediately froze. He looked at the gigantic dome far above the mesmerizing cityscape, full of floating platforms, luxurious buildings, and a damn-near-uncountable number of people making their way around.
“Holy shit…” he muttered.
All thoughts of the trial were immediately forgotten, buried under a question burning with a fiery curiosity—
I wonder what an apartment would cost here.