Chapter 10:Variable

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New chapter is here

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Kal'tsit knew it was too good to be true. The beds were well made and did their job as perfectly good bait, she herself has to admit. She can also admit to being afraid of death.

They say doctors try their best to fight against death, to keep the person alive and well for as long as possible. Sometimes the good doctors would let some patients die with the patient's permission at least. There are fates worse than death after all. She's experienced almost every encounter of death.

Torture

War

Slavery

Betrayal

The thing that scared her wasn't death, it was the simple fact no one would be waiting for her, no one would mourn her. She understands better than others the dead should stay dead, that they deserve their eternal rest.

She envies the Dead.

Kal'tsit was thankful Mon3tr shared a degree of intelligence and sentience. If she were to continue her diligence in Terra alone, she wouldn't know what to do with herself.

Her eternal work would never be recognized and so she treasures every mundane accolade she could acquire from those that trusted and thanked her in their short life. She tries to remember all of the accolades she gathered back then.

Kal'tsit's hand goes deep into her pocket as she fondles the gold coin Old Isin gave her.

She treasures every small moment, commits them to memory. It is the only thing she can truly own.

Kal'tsit then without her own control for once, curls into a ball on her bed. For once in her lives she realizes in horror but smiles and cries actual tears. Mon3tr the longest friend she knows, covers her small and pathetic frame.

She wasn't alone.

The very thought both scared and relieved her. She wasn't alone in experiencing the nothingness, the worst that the world and beyond had to offer. She realizes that his own self-worth has degraded to a point

that he considers himself a willing pawn in a game he thought she was playing him in. She can prove him wrong and she can gain another thing she always coveted.

A friend.

Maybe something more?

What she saw was basically all but confirmed it for everyone in "The Lobby". Ye's life was shortened greatly, his life was nothing but a struggle to stay alive. Kal'tsit knew better and knew more. It hurts even more to know the truth. The hollow bitter truth she would keep to her graves.

He stayed in that Void longer than her.

He was stronger than her.

Kal'tsit could only remember his words

when he accepted her Herculean task. A fate she considers worse than death for a person of his ambitions. A task that would never bear fruit in one's lifetime. A task she now knows in cruel realization, he would let himself die for.

"For the people that need us. Infected or not, we need to help them.", his words still echo her mind. Even unto her most terrible and abrupt awakening from a horrid nightmare, his declaration was a mantra that eased her resolve. His words felt familiar, as if sharing a common burden with a kindred soul. They'd both risk it all, for the lives that would never know their deeds. For once she can let herself be blind for what's to come. Where there is turmoil, there will be Rhodes Island.

From sniffles of composed tears to outright ugly sobbing, she ignores the

world and its fate for one moment. She lowers her guard completely as Mon3tr looks at her with both worry and a knowing stare.

She cries not for the world, not for the dead, but for something selfish for once.

She cries for herself.

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Mon3tr knows itself to act and snarl like a beast but with its massive frame, it had to act this way. For the safety of it's friend, it needed to act like a much more fearsome entity. It could communicate with her in perfect sync as her thoughts were its thoughts. Ironically they taught each other their own ways to speak, from its growls to her excellent skills in almost every language on Terra.

It remembers the fight between one of the things that scared both of them the most. 'Pursuer' could not keep them down easily but it feared the lives of those around them. The friend it has shared the same sentiment as she perfectly maneuvers each situation to reach the tipping point of her ultimatum. The masked figure could only walk back into the freezing tundra.

It remembers the defiance of their friend, the urge to save lives. She risks it all because she owns nothing, it remembers a saying that it heard once in a hidden market underneath the Sargon dunes.

"Never gamble with a man that has nothing to lose.", it irked as it slowly realizes the phrase hits closely to their friend.

They own nothing.

It could only use its once lethal spikes and try to be a shell for the eternal and vulnerable friend. From staring unto the sobbing Lynx, Mon3tr turns to the second person that can read it's thoughts.

It and Amiya stares at one another. Mon3tr can only shake it's head at the small Heir. Amiya could only shakily hold her hand close to her chest, tears staining her eyes as she looks unto their burdens. She nods in return before wiping her tears in an instant and composes herself. It could only watch as the small Heir handles diplomacy to the outburst the others are throwing out. It could only tilt it's head in confusion as it can see a figure moving faster than any of them.

Mon3tr then looks back at one of its only true friends in this world. It pokes at her

side and once she meets its gaze. The once fearsome snarls of the crystallized beast were nothing more than comfort for the Lynx. It grins as much as being a fozzilized monstrosity can.

They were not alone anymore.
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End of chapter

Goodbye.

Goodbye

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