Chapter 259: Marooned
Hai Yun diligently etched a subtle smile onto her face. She portrayed an unrealistic depiction of grace that embodied her station, but completely failed to capture her true mood. The feigned expression was directed at no one in particular. It was simple discipline that had her maintaining a charming visage for the benefit of everyone else.
The smile did little to hide the hopelessness that defined her continued existence, but it was as much effort as she could currently give. If anyone looked beyond the strained expression on her sunburned skin, and into her weary eyes, it would be obvious that she felt utterly defeated. Rock bottom was when there was nowhere else to go, but the struggle just kept getting worse, and the hole, deeper. She dared not claim to have actually found rock bottom, cynical enough to avoid tempting fate into escalating her tribulations.
She wasn’t alone in her misery. Of her original mountaintop procession, maybe a quarter of the total number remained. Loyal warriors had lost their families and family members had become fighters in place of lost warriors. New people had joined her entourage, and been lost in the short time they spent together, but only after inspiring even more to follow. They had all been through many trials, and not all had made it. Her feelings were transparently reflected throughout her remaining attendants and the followers that had joined them along the way, but she did her best to seem calm and confident, as was appropriate for her symbolic role.
If not for the honor of her attendants, she would have already been satisfied with the effort she gave. She wasn’t born to be a leader. Without their support, she would never have stepped up to fill the void that her grandfather left behind. Perhaps she wouldn’t have left her burning city in the first place without their expectancy, content to capitulate to the internal tension of civil unrest and the external pressure of an alien invasion. They propped her up, so it had become her duty to avoid toppling over and wilting under the pressure.
She owed them too much to ever be worthy of their continued devotion, but as long as they kept going, she had to keep trying. The forced smile was a feeble refusal to completely surrender to apathy as her ragged followers shuffled around protectively, their torn clothes and the few dulled ancient weapons mirroring their fatigue-lined faces. The trouble was more for their sake than her own.
The simple monster variant that occupied their current location was no match for their obstinate resistance, but that only demonstrated the wide variety of threats distributed across the planet. Only a handful of guards were necessary for keeping the rest secure, so they were taking the defense in easy shifts. As the current sentries acknowledged her before their hunt, she could barely keep her expression steady.
The fake confidence conveyed by her smile felt like another small betrayal toward her loyal followers. It was a lie to mask the failures that had driven their journey across the hemisphere. Despair gnawed at her insides, but her regrets had at least faded. No matter what choices she made, they had all been doomed the moment mana activated on the planet. That was the nature of their new reality. Her experience had led her to a simple conclusion; the assimilation was never meant to be an orientation for new people to be introduced to a broader community. It was raucous oppression designed to pit them against each other before siphoning off the remnants of their homes to benefit alien tyrants. It was a battle royale with the final prize in the form of eternal serfdom at best and complete extermination equally conceivable.
Hai Yun had already lost any real hope for herself long before. She could only explore the depths of anguish while the others looked to her for traditional symbolic guidance. The assimilation was too demanding, and no one anywhere could spare the resources or risk themselves by extending a helping hand to strangers. The moment she felt any self-assurance in their part in the apocalypse, by claiming the first mana well, they were brought crashing back down by the developments of mana.
She sat on a jutting boulder, back straight, despite the sharp edges uncomfortably pressing against her delicate skin. Her hair was combed, held in place by butterfly hairpins that had been tarnished by the weather, and her posture was as close to perfect as humanly possible. The elegant travel gown that she wore had already been ruined by the elements, so she wasn’t concerned about more damage. The rest of the collection was lost forever.
She alone occupied the limited shade at their current location, provided by a mound of similarly eroded volcanic rock adjacent to her seat, poking through the limited gathered sand on a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. No matter her preference, her attendants granted her as much luxury as possible, as if her station was important for their own sense of equilibrium.