I’m a bit remiss that we decided to eat lunch before we headed down here. There are a few cheap fast food places just off campus, and with an hour to burn, having a mini lunch date with Chloe is definitely among the more pleasant ways I could imagine spending that time. As it is, however, I’m not hungry— an increasingly uncommon occurrence in the post-Integration world. Instead, the two of us just take a stroll around campus.

It’s a surreal experience. Other than my wings and left arm, this is a microcosm of what my life would have been like if the System hadn’t arrived. I’d be walking through this very campus alongside Chloe, going from class to class, then to the library to study. We’d room together in one of the dorms for that proper ‘living on campus’ experience, eat meh cafeteria food that I’d be paying for over the next fifteen years, and just… trying to figure out who we are as people as we prepare for life ahead of us.

I can’t even say that we’d not be dating in that timeline, either. Chloe did mention that she’d had romantic interest in me for the last couple of years. And maybe the System’s arrival was the impetus for moving her to confess her feelings, but Chloe is a strong person. She would have confessed her feelings sooner or later. And I would have eventually come around, just as I did in this timeline. I have no doubt of that whatsoever, even though I have no logical reason I can point to why that would be the case.

“Hey, Sera,” Chloe says. “What are you thinking about?”

“Is it that obvious that I’m thinking about something?”

“I mean, if you’re awake, you’re thinking about something. I know you too well.” She pokes my chin for emphasis.

“Okay, I was thinking about how much longer it would have taken us to start dating had the System not arrived.”

“Probably another year or so. Maybe two. You really are pretty air-headed about relationships.”

“I’m sorry that I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I know I’ve screwed up before, and I’ll probably screw up again.” I sigh. “I know I’m not good enough for you, Chloe, so that’s why I’ll– Ow!”

Chloe whacks me on the forehead. “None of this ‘not good enough for me’ crap, Seraphina! I chose you because I love you. Because you’re the one I want by my side. Not because of some arbitrary ‘good enough’ metric.”

“Like I said, working on it.”

Chloe sighs and wraps her arm around me. As before, it’s still a little difficult with my wings, but we’re eventually able to get into a comfortable position. I wrap my wing around her as we walk, and I admit to myself but not to Chloe that I’m subtly pulling her in a little closer than might be completely comfortable for walking around like this.

As we stroll around campus, we pass by a man and a woman— students, I presume. Each looks only a year or two older than Chloe and me, both with fair skin and light brown hair. As our paths cross, the woman looks at me with a mix of skepticism and curiosity, her eyes seeming to focus on my wings in particular..

“Are you two adventurers?” she asks.

I nod. “I don’t know if I’d call us professional adventurers, but yes, we’ve done adventuring work.”

In truth, I’m not sure how adventuring companies and such even work. We were nominally working alongside the Red Pack Adventuring Company, but we were never on their payroll. We never had formal membership, paid dues, or took formal quests for pay the way these sorts of companies often operate in other media. At the same time, we never wanted for food or basic resources, which begs questions of funding and appropriations and… stuff I’m not keen on dealing with myself.

“That’s really cool,” she says. “Did you get those wings in a dungeon?”

I nod. Stepping back from Chloe just a bit, I flutter my wings and hover about a foot off the ground. I maintain myself in midair for about ten seconds. Then I wave my hand all around the air above me, trying to remove all doubt that my levitation is the result of some optical illusion, before dropping back to the surface.

“Interesting,” the man says. His voice carries the skepticism I would expect of someone who just witnessed convincing stage magic but knows there’s some trick behind it all. In this case, there isn’t, just actual System shenanigans enabling real flight.

“Is there any way I could learn to fly as well?” the woman asks.

Chloe answers on my behalf. “You will have to get much, much better at controlling the [Ether] within your body. Once you get [Basic Ether Manipulation], you’ll want to keep practicing control exercises until you evolve it into [Intermediate Ether Manipulation]. Then, once you have that at Rank VI or VII and have enough control with the [Ether] channels in your back and shoulders, you can do this…”

She steps forward and spawns her [Etheric Wings], floating up a few feet off the ground. She does a little playful twirl, followed by a lazy mid-air somersault before drifting down just as effortlessly as I did before.

“Oh, wow! That is so cool! Henry, we should learn how to fly!” she says.

“You know it could be just a trick, right?”

The woman’s hair swirls with her [Ether] and her brunette locks briefly glow with a faint red-orange tinge. A small flame coalesces in her fist before dispelling a moment later.

“I get your skepticism, but if I can conjure fire just by thinking about it, why is it so hard to wrap your head around the idea that these girls can fly?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense! None of this makes sense!”

“It doesn’t,” I say. “But just because things don’t make sense doesn’t mean they’re not real.” I point to the massive tower only a couple of miles to the southwest. “That tower. Dungeons that are larger on the inside than the outside. Dinosaurs that came straight out of Jurassic Park

. An island floating high in the sky. A fetid forest that seems darkened by fell spirits. Giant amoeboid oozes that came straight out of a horror fic. And no shortage of terrorist cults seeking to use all the chaos and carnage for their own ends. It’s all real. I’ve seen it all myself.”

The man— Henry— just shakes his head and sighs. His girlfriend, I assume, drags him off and starts berating him, and as she does, I feel just a twinge of guilt and even sympathy for him. A sort of shared camaraderie, after how many times I’ve been in his shoes over the past couple of months, getting chewed out by Chloe for my risk-taking and general lack of a self-preservation instinct.

I wouldn’t give up Chloe or ask her to change one bit, though. Not for all the gold I could carry.

She slips back into the embrace of my right wing, her hand grasping my own as we continue walking for a bit longer.

“You’re not mad at me?” Chloe asks.

“Why would I be mad? For telling them the steps they’d need to take in order to learn how to fly?”

She nods sheepishly.

“No. I’m… still not keen about handing out power to people like candy, nor building weapons for folks. But recent events have shown me that that ball is no longer in my court.”

“You mean those black market arms dealers from yesterday?”

I nod. “I don’t like doing the same, but it’s better that everyone has access to Ethertech than for it to be held exclusively in the hands of the government and those with the money and resources to procure them through shady means.”

“Remember, Sera…” Chloe trails off and looks around. “You might feel like you have the weight of the world upon your shoulders. But you can’t do it all alone.”

“I feel like I do, sometimes,” I mumble. “That’s why I’m here, right?”

Chloe shakes her head. “There might be things only you can do, but there are things that I can do. That all of your friends can do as well.” She pauses for a moment. “I get that you have a destiny, as the inheritor of 「The Anomaly」, but I’m scared. Scared for you. And scared that you’re going to try to push me and everyone else away.”

I wrap her around into a hug, bringing my wings around the two of us. It might look a bit awkward, the two of us embracing behind a thin veil of magical steel, but Chloe’s comfort is far more important than appearances. If anyone stares or looks at us funny, then screw ‘em.

“I need you, Chloe,” I whisper.

We’ve only been dating… ten days now? But even so, we’ve been so close for so long before then. It’s not that I can’t imagine a world without her. But the thought is so revolting that I can’t stomach doing so for more than a couple of moments.

My mind briefly races, but my thoughts are grounded as the two of us embrace more tightly. Chloe is here. She’s alive, she’s by my side, she’s well and uninjured and the two of us are together and side by side. And whatever happens going forward, we’ll find a way through together, just as we always have.

“And I you, Sera,” she whispers back.

We continue our stroll through the campus grounds for a little longer. I try my best not to get wrapped up in all the anxiety of the upcoming meeting. It fails, of course, as trying hard not to think about something is the surest way to doom spiral around that very thing. But Chloe’s presence and the quiet chat we have about… well, everything and nothing? That is a balm upon the soul that nothing else can quite match.

“I think I’m going to start telling people about the methods of Ethertech and glyphs more broadly,” I whisper to Chloe. “I didn’t want to for a long time, but…”

“I… I understand your hesitance, Sera. But I am inclined to agree that… Yeah, I think that’s the right call. Whatever will happen afterwards, we’ll deal with it together.”

“Yeah. Together sounds good.”

It feels like not all that much time has passed, but before I know it, Chloe alerts me that fifty minutes have passed. It’s time to stroll back in the general direction of the opposite side of campus where our meeting is scheduled. And, as we get closer, I notice quite a few more cars starting to pull into the parking lot. Some sort of big faculty meeting going on here? I guess that’s why Dr. O’Neal is planning to be in. With any luck, he’ll be able to squeeze in a few moments with us before this big meeting. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence.

Unlikely. Coincidences of that sort do happen. But it’s best not to assume coincidence in these sorts of scenarios. Especially when there are so many potential negative outcomes. What if this is connected to the black market arms dealers? I shake my head. Just a bundle of nerves. I highly doubt a bunch of university professors are going to risk their tenures working with the seedier population, not when they likely have best access to the spigot of grant money from… Well, I’m not sure who all would give these kinds of grants, and I suspect I’d rather not know every entity writing the checks.

We make our way back, doing our best to slip through the crowd of about three dozen gathered faculty, only about a quarter of whom are women. Many are dressed professionally, including suits and ties on the men. The others are at least business-casual, with collared shirts, dress slacks, and appropriate shoes. Of course, Chloe looks cute in her robes like the [Saintess] she is, but I feel horribly out of place among the crowd of people. Mostly older, none younger than about thirty, and plenty who look to be in their fifties and sixties. Wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them claimed to be septuagenarians.

A few people give me a glance, but more than that, people are glancing at my arm and wings. And from the whispers that are going about, people actually know about my arm. I guess communication and collaboration between the faculty of different universities is pretty commonplace.

And then a really, really scary thought invades my mind. One which I dare not mention, lest I jinx myself. But… no, it couldn’t be, could it? I sure hope that’s not the case. I did not sign up for this whatsoever… Ugh! It is, isn’t it!

I slip my way down the stairs and down the hallway toward my destination, only to be stopped as soon as my hand touches the doorknob.

“Are you Seraphina?” the middle-aged, well-dressed, slightly-graying man asks.

“I am,” I say, fearing that my above concern is manifesting itself right before my very eyes.

He offers his hand. “Carl O’Neal,” he says as I give him a firm shake, while also taking care not to use too much of my [Strength]. “It’s an honor to have you here today. I do apologize for the lack of refreshments and other amenities, but your arrival was somewhat last-minute.”

“Chloe Jacobs,” Chloe says, offering her hand. “Sera’s partner.”

To my surprise, I don’t mind her referring to herself as my partner one bit. In fact, I like it.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you like this,” I say. “We’d only gotten back home from our adventures a couple of days ago, and I only just scrolled through these hundreds of e-mails I’d received earlier this morning.”

Dr. O’Neal laughs. “I sort of suspected as much. Now, if I may guide you to one of the lecture halls up on the main floor. I’m sure that all of us here would love to hear more about your accomplishments and your ideas for future research in the field of Ethertech.”

Goddesses dammit all. I was right.