Change: New World

A Futile Effort…?

The metallic howls echoed fiercely in this confined tunnel.

The wolves below me were just as loud, but I felt a bit of comfort knowing they couldn’t reach me. Before anything else though, I briefly checked my current status.

Maybe it was because I was currently blind, but when I called out my status, the familiar blue panel did not pop up. Rather, like before, an eerie and mechanical voice whispered in my ear.

It briefly told me the same gist of information I’d usually garner from a normal information panel. Well, in short, I leveled up by 1. This was good news, especially considering I’ve been stagnant ever since the double exp. bonus ended. Unfortunately, good news wasn’t the only thing I received.

My hp was borderline, about 6% remaining, while my body was also riddled in several abnormal status effects. Most noticeable was the fact that several [Bleeding status] effects were stacked, causing their initial effects to augment.

I don’t know how much time I had left, but it wasn’t a lot, and the fact that my body felt excessively sluggish was also a bad sign. I’ve never experienced it before, but I’m guessing the sluggish feeling was the effect of letting the stamina bar get too low.

After retrospecting a bit about my current situation, I finally picked myself up and proceeded to leave this narrow space. I backtracked and followed my original path, snaking my way around the ventilation shaft.

My current goal was to reach the “meeting spot” the girls and I had set up earlier. Although I said meeting spot, really, it was just the area behind the wall that we used for cover.

Going off the cognitive map I had from earlier, I eventually lowered myself out of the ventilation shafts.

I landed with a thud in what I hoped was a familiar hallway.

Of course, I couldn’t see it, so instead, I cautiously grabbed at the wall as I sniffed the air.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, but in the absence of vision, I thought it might have been smart to start using my other senses.

Sniffing at the air, the tangy smell of highschool acid and singed fur eventually reached my nose.

I wrinkled my nozzle reflexively as my head turned to face the direction of the odor. More than likely, the stench was caused by the battle that took place in the hallway. It was also my destination, but I couldn’t just walk straight there unabashedly.

Even if I was close to death, it was pointless if I just went and died due to recklessness.

I started moving. Going off the memorized mental map I had of the 2nd floor, I snaked my way around corridors and classrooms, until I eventually reached my destination. From my current location, merely a couple meters down the hallway where the girls should have been, I could already hear the roaring of fire, as well as the heavy panting of two human individuals.

I was close...but...

...unfortunately, that was when I finally ran out of stamina.

Taking a shaky step forward, I tried fighting the fatigue as I proceeded forward. Too bad though, since after my 2nd step, my legs gave way, and I collapsed hard on the tiled floor.

With an annoyed spit, I ejected the gathered grime and dirt in my mouth as I weakly called out to the girls.

What came out of my mouth though, weren’t words, but rather, a pathetic sounding groan of both fatigue and pain.

I don’t know whether they could hear me or not, mostly since my hearing was getting pretty bad as well, but a moment later, a rather… delicate sensation enveloped me.

It wasn’t healing magic or anything, but rather human contact.

My head seemingly rested on a pair of warm marshmallows as something soft brushed my injured face.

I attempted to look up, as if trying to meet eye to eye with whatever or whoever held me, but as expected, all I saw was black.

“....”

“...”

“Hide?” A familiar voice suddenly spoke up through the crackling of the nearby flames.

The voice was soft, feminine, and for some strange reason, brought me a quiet comfort.

“Ugh… is that Hina? Hina?” I asked, unsure as to the owner of the voice.

“Y-yes, it’s me, but more importantly what happened?!” She let out a horrified gasp as I imagined her doing a once over of my beaten and bloodied body.

“Er… well, that’s not important right now, I *cough* I-I really need a heal. I-is Cielle around?” I hastily replied. My HP was slowly draining, at most I had 0.08% left. I was seriously cutting it close.

My head absentmindedly swept from side to side, in a vain attempt at looking around my surroundings.

“Cielle?” Hina asked dubiously. “Cielle’s been right here this whole time… Hide, don’t tell me… you can’t see?!”

Upon hearing Hina’s evaluation, a horrified and surprised voice suddenly gasped next to me.

[Ah… there’s Cielle.]

“Well, like I said-”

Before I could reiterate, Hina once again interrupted. “What exactly happened to you Hide! Why can’t you see?! Why is there so much blood everywhere?!”

“J-just calm down Hina!” I tried retorting through her growing hysteria. “Don’t worry about the blood, not all of it’s mine, more importantly-”

“Why did you suddenly appear down this hallway??? I thought for sure you were in the computer lab fighting?”

“I was, I was-jeez, just listen to me for a second! I’m seriously going to die!” I sighed out exasperatedly.

“Muu… fine, fine, I can’t argue with you there, you really do look like you're about to walk through the pearly gates… but after you're all fixed and well, you better explain, got it?”

Hina replied back, her tone had a modest undertone, but was fashioned to be severely reprimanding, like a mother scolding her reckless child.

“Okay, sure, but right now that’s not important, Cielle heal me! Heal me right now!”

My voice broke off in frantic desperation. No matter how much bravado I seemingly had, as expected, even I was afraid of death. I urged Cielle to heal me. I urged her even more to save me.

As if in compliance, a familiar, soothing warmth enveloped me. I recognized this blissful sensation as [Gemini Blue]. It washed over me, and while the fatigue still remained, I could feel the pain slowly disappear.

For a moment, I just laid there, fully appreciating [Gemini Blue]’s usefulness, as my severe injuries began to all but fade away. The warm, yet somewhat cool sensation enveloped my entirety, snaking its way down from my legs, to my right hand, all the way eventually to meet the throbbing pain in the back of my head.

I could feel, even in my head, as something was… rearranged. It was a weird sensation, one not easily described, but I at least knew that I was getting better.

Eventually, with much trepidation and after the soothing sensation had begun to fade, I slowly opened my eyes; I was greeted by the first rays of light that I had seen in what felt like a long time.

I looked up earnestly at a tear streaked girl’s face.

Cielle’s lips were curved in a quiver, mere inches away from my own. Her own hair enveloped me, creating a small curtain that seemingly enclosed both of us in our own private world, away from all the danger and death that existed.

At first, my eyes widened upon her close proximity, but eventually they softened as my own lips curved into a slight smile.

I had many things floating through my mind at this current moment. Several words and phrases I wanted to say, but for now, I satisfied myself with a slight gesture of appreciation.

“Thank you.”

With those words, it was now Cielle’s turn to widen her eyes, as for a moment she stared transfixed. Eventually though, this moment, this seemingly timeless moment was broken, as she quickly backed away, and turned towards the flames that still raged.

As she got up from me, I too attempted to sit upright. The fatigue was worse than ever now, as the original adrenaline rush I fueled myself off of had already vanished. I strained to look around, until my eyes met with Hina’s, who stood besides the flames while her hands maneuvered in front of her.

After handing me off to Cielle, it seems like she had gone back to whatever she was doing before, as she currently looked out over the mflaes.

Noticing my gaze, she stared back, her face donned with a tired smile. Going by her expression, I knew she wanted answers as to what happened, but that could wait for later. Right now, we still had a bit of unfinished business to take care of.

First thing though, was I needed to replenish was some bit of stamina.

I looked over at Cielle and asked, “Do you have any granola bars left?”

Prompted by my question, she fished around her pockets and came up with an old worn out protein bar. It was all mushed and beaten, but at the very least, the wrapper seemed to remain relatively unbroken. I quickly checked its stats, and was satisfied to find that the blue panels had returned. Also, the piece of calorie was just what I needed; with equip’s effects active, it could restore a little bit of my stamina.

I took the bar and slowly chewed. As I did, I checked my hp. I found that Gemini Blue had healed over 75% of my total, which, in retrospect, was quite amazing, considering how a mere 10 minutes ago, I was on death’s door.

As I marveled, I finally noticed the giant blob of darkness that floated harmlessly besides Cielle. The glob was massive, probably the biggest I’ve ever seen so far. It was truly an amazing thing to consider that this mass was the representation of almost all the pain and injury I received.

As I absentmindedly continued eating, from my side, Cielle spoke up. Her tone was still clearly worried, but it had somewhat calmed down.

“C-can you see now, H-Hide?”

Upon her question, I paused for a moment. I hesitated before I nodded in affirmation. Truth be told, I could see, but thing’s were somewhat… blurry. Although I figured things would go back to normal pretty soon, so I paid it no heed for now.

But… it wouldn’t hurt to work my eyes around a bit. With that thought, I did a few basic eyesight exercises, like looking at objects from a distance, or looking at something extremely close up, you know, simple things.

As I did this though, I was honestly surprised when a ding! sound resounded in my head.

A moment later, a new blue information panel popped up.