“Mmmf…” Chloe’s groan as she rouses herself from slumber is definitely one of the cutest sounds I’ve ever heard, and getting to listen to it on the regular is definitely one of the nicest fringe benefits that comes from being her girlfriend.

My arms— both of them— slip around her waist, pulling her closer to me. And I pause for a moment to take in her scent. It doesn’t matter that she was running ragged in the hospital for hours or fighting a monster in the midst of a hailstorm before that. She smells like Chloe all the same, and by the goddesses above, that is truly the most heavenly scent in all the cosmos.

I give her a kiss on the back of the neck. “Morning, Chloe.”

“Did I really sleep through a full day?”

“No. It’s a bit before 4:00 PM.”

“And you’ve stayed by my side the entire time?”

“I did some quiet [Ether] manipulation exercises and meditated. But mostly I just enjoyed your presence and enjoyed a day of not having to do anything but be here with you.”

Chloe stretches out her arm. A cloud of purest white envelops her right hand. Then, it dissipates, replaced by a golden glow that gradually fades. From within that heavenly aura, her phone emerges from within her [Inventory]. And she shakes her head.

“I guess you were right. It is easy to forget about your phone after storing it away in your inventory for a few hours.”

I laugh. “It definitely takes some getting used to.” I pull some leftover trail mix from a few days ago out of my inventory. “Want some?”

She spins around, facing me. “Feed me.”

I get a devious idea, one which I know she will love. I take a handful of the mix and start chewing. Her eyes narrow, then widen as the realization sets in of exactly what my dastardly plan entails. And then I kiss her, feeding her baby bird style in the process, something which she seems to enjoy quite thoroughly.

“Seraphina, you are certainly feeling bold this afternoon!”

“I seem to remember you asking me to do this with chocolate next time. It’s not all chocolate, but I hope you still like it.”

“Oh, I most certainly do. Definitely one of the best kisses I’ve ever had.”

“One of?”

“Our first is always going to hold that special place in my heart.”

I blush slightly, breaking off our kiss and taking a moment to just stare into Chloe’s eyes. She caresses my cheek, maintaining our eye contact fully. After everything we’ve gone through, after all the challenges of the past several weeks, a day of peace and quiet, even while the world outside is reeling and weeping, is the most heavenly of ambrosia upon my soul. Tomorrow we’ll be giving our all to the rebuilding efforts. But right now, she needs this. I need this. Even if it’s unfair, selfish, even evil according to some, it’s a small comfort I will afford Chloe of. Even if the world itself wants to stand against me.

----------------------------------------

Our sleep is deep and peaceful, never leaving one another’s arms from the time the sun goes down until the first lights of dawn appear in the sky out our bedroom window. Soon, we’re off to take a quick shower, eat a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal and fresh fruit, and out the door to begin our day.

It’s amazing just how different the city is from a day ago, and a reminder that people aren’t weak and helpless. In perhaps twenty-eight hours, already I can see substantial progress toward rebuilding our fair city. Piles of debris have been cleared up, and thanks to people with Skills that accelerate the process, there’s already signs of rebuilding.

New scaffolding and framework has already been built over a good number of the damaged and destroyed buildings. It appears that a number of [Bricklayer] type classes have Skills that allow them to conjure their material of choice out of nothing but the dirt at their feet, and similar with carpenters and wood. I don’t know if an [Electrician] can conjure the copper wires needed to link all the lights and appliances and other fixtures together, but I wouldn’t be surprised if several of them start to develop the Skills to do exactly that.

On the one hand, it’s amazing. People are developing the power to defend themselves, and take their lives in their own hands. On the other hand, most of them have no idea that the System is a pernicious force, one which will, in the long run, lead us only to ruin and annihilation. We tap into its power and grow strong, using the abilities and stats we are granted to shape our lives and destinies.

But we also grow dependent upon the same. With each month that passes, with each calamity that we rebuild from, our society will shift a little bit more away from pre-System organization. Instead of creating the complex supply chains to transport raw materials across the globe to be processed, then shipped back to their end user, now they are much simpler, much more local, and augmented at every step of the way by powers that would have been decried as heretical sorcery mere months ago.

I have to wonder: Even if I am successful in my goal to eradicate the System and save the universe, will I be able to save the life which inhabits it? Or, having warped itself in the presence of its parasite, will it be unable to sustain itself in the System’s absence? I do not know. But the prospect of such a thing occurring only provides that much more incentive to continue upon my present path of getting stronger, of conquering the Tower and increasing my level to confront the threat directly, and sooner rather than later.

Chloe looks at me with a forlorn glance, letting her hand graze against mine for a moment. “I– I’ll see you tonight, Sera,” she says. And then she flies off, heading north toward the primary hospital in the city. For a few seconds, we stay within telepathic range, whispering sweet nothings to each other. And then, all the same, that too goes silent, only a quiet mote of contentment and resolve remaining.

I’ve not yet decided exactly how best to use the time I have just yet. I could

report to Nicholas and see if there’s anything he needs doing. But I don’t want to go off on missions just yet. Not without Chloe, and not before my [Seraphina Overlimit] recharges in… a bit over a hundred and thirty-eight hours. But without that and without a clear objective in mind, I— ironically enough— feel rather useless here.

I could simply keep watch from the sky, but that seems like a cop out, an excuse to not help out when I’m needed most. After a few moments of silent contemplation, I decide to head to the university. I have connections there, and I’ll be able to best integrate among their established recovery efforts.

The campus is… not the worst-off area of the city. But it’s far from the best. The library, the administration building? Both ruined. The dining hall escaped without more than a few broken windows and some modest roofing damage. The College of Engineering? We’re fine. The athletics complex? Practically emerged unscathed. But the building which houses the economics department? Rubbled.

I can’t help but imagine that there’s some message being sent here. Two levels of the message, actually. One meant for society more broadly. That the System rewards certain things. Fighting, building, crafting, learning and advancing and getting stronger. And it doesn’t value other things. It dislikes the ideas of economics, of scarcity, or maybe it’s saying that the discipline needs to completely rebuild itself to accommodate the changing world. And it hates the idea of the administration and systems of old governing what it sees as its own dominion.

The same could be said of the library. And again I wonder: to what extent can we continue to relate to the human condition of old? I think, upon reflection, that the answer is still quite a bit. Even with more personal power than perhaps any human has ever wielded before, enough power to crush an army, deflect machine gun fire with a thought, and conjure an implosion with power rivaling conventional munitions of the previous century, I still feel too weak to face the obstacles to come. I still feel trapped, beholden to a System beyond me. I still feel all of the emotions that humans have always felt. Love and loss, betrayal and conflict and treachery. Sacrifice, rage, and yes, even powerlessness and despair. But also hope and determination and grit and the will to overcome adversity.

So… In this, I think the System is wrong to have destroyed the library. But this relates to the second message, the one directed squarely at me. The System is either rewarding me for following its dicta, or is framing me to create more conflict later. Because the School of Engineering and the Athletics Department are the two areas of the school that I’ll be directly involved with, assuming everything goes as prior plans have indicated. But I don’t know which it is, and if people realize the connection, they could certainly draw the wrong conclusions. Conclusions that I was somehow responsible for the attacks which occurred throughout the world last night, and somehow orchestrated everything to… look good? I guess? It makes no sense, but conspiracy theories have been built upon less.

I touch down in front of the ruins of the main administration building. It appears that plenty of other faculty have gathered, as has virtually every member of staff who could be summoned to campus on such short notice.

“Well, that’s just great,” a middle-aged man I don’t recognize says. “We’re already in a fit of confidence thanks to the System, and now half the campus is in shambles. The budget is shot and already it’s a coinflip how many of our students are going to return to campus in the fall. What the… Fu–” He shakes his head while pacing about at a frenzied pace. “A hundred years of education and we might not be able to hold classes at all.”

“Well, we still have all of the virtual protocols from a few years back,” another man says.

“But what about those people who need to be here on campus?” he asks.

I listen in for a little while as the two go back and forth. It does concern me, and I have every reason to believe that we can rebuild, but I also don’t want to interject right away and create further misunderstandings of frustrations. Finally, after three minutes of nonstop raving and cussing, he turns to me.

“Miss, I’m sorry, but the administration is going to be closed for the next several days.”

“What can I do to help get things fixed as quickly as possible? I’ve come to make myself useful.”

“I appreciate it, but at this point, it’s going to be one meeting after another trying to secure funding and–”

I decide to reveal myself more fully, sprouting the wings I had dispersed right after landing. “You need me to fly over City Hall to start getting permits approved? Transport you or anyone else around the city? Start hauling debris? Hell, if you want me to haul an entire bulldozer or excavator down here, I can probably do that as well.”

“You’re–” He stares at my wings, then my arm, then my wings, then back to my face. “You’re one of the ones they’re calling the Twin Seraphs.”

“Twin Seraphs?”

“Two girls, one with wings of pure white, the other with wings of neon green. Both said to be incredibly powerful supersoldiers, and the reason that we’re all here to bicker about.”

“I don’t know about the moniker, nor about being a supersoldier, but…” I offer my hand to the man. “Seraphina Mortensen. I guess I’m an adjunct professor who’s slated to be teaching some courses here in the fall. And I’m here to help rebuild and ensure that that’s possible.”

He takes one more deep breath. “Bill Masterson, Campus Provost. There’s a lot of work to be done, and I suppose there’s no sense in wasting the time we’ve been given.”