From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 42: Bird Routine

With that, he turned toward the door. "Tomorrow, you’ll be assigned training schedules. Rest well tonight. Your real work begins with the morning light."

The door closed behind him with a soft click.

For a long moment, none of us spoke. The smell of the hospital room suddenly seemed stronger, more dense.

"Well." Coco finally broke the silence, "That didn’t sound optional."

"It wasn’t." Rolen said, his expression thoughtful. "He just handed us lifelong duties."

"Is that really so different from before?" Finn asked, leaning against the wall. "We went from the orphanage to the warehouses to exile without ever having a say. At least now we get comfortable rooms and real food."

"And the chance to matter." Phinyx added quietly from his bed. "I want Argent’s vibe to change for the better." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

I watched their faces as they processed their new reality. We’d survived the unimaginable. And yet here we were, still being shaped by forces beyond our control, still being molded into tools.

"What do you think?" Kira asked me directly, her eyes searching mine. "You’re the one with the heaviest burden. The weapon."

I’d spent my life moving in patterns dictated by others, from shelf to crate, from orphanage to warehouse, from exile to return. Always following the path laid before me.

"I think." I said slowly, measuring each word, "That we’ve been given an opportunity most exiles never get."

"To be useful to the Citadel?" Rolen asked, his tone carefully neutral.

"No." I met his gaze. "To understand Argent from the inside. To learn its rules. To grow stronger within them." I looked at each of my friends. "And besides, I think we all want Argent to change for the better. No one should have to live through the exile."

"So we train." Kira said, her voice gaining confidence. "We grow stronger."

"And we watch." Finn added. "We learn."

"We survived exile." Coco said, a hint of his old smile returning. "This should be easy in comparison."

Phinyx nodded from his hospital bed. "I hope this time no one gets left behind."

The words hung in the air, a promise and a memorial all at once. We’d lost too many already. Their absence would always be with us, a hollow space that no amount of training or advancement could fill.

"Rest now." I told Phinyx, echoing Damian’s words. "Tomorrow, we begin."

After that we started leaving one by one. I was the last one to leave through the door in Phinyx’s room.

I was walking, looking directly at Kira’s back. But something happened...

The next second I wasn’t there.

I was still inside Argent, but I had no idea how I’d gotten here.

I stayed there for a couple of seconds, still, looking at my surroundings and then at the sky.

’Is this my vow? How did this happen! Where am I and how did I get here?’

It seemed that it truly activates at random moments, right now I was still inside Argent, so I could only look up and walk towards the spire.

But what would happen if I’m outside the barrier and this cursed vow activates?

I decided not to overthink what I couldn’t understand, so I grabbed my yo-yo and started using it while walking towards the spire. Around me I could only see small buildings dedicated to agriculture, inside I could see people younger than me working.

Somehow it felt weird to think that I was now one of the 10 eldest people in Argent... and that I still enjoyed playing with a child’s toy.

When I reached the spire I got inside the general floor first and there I saw Kira sitting. Waiting.

"Allaran, there you are!" Kira said with a hint of worry. "You suddenly disappeared after learning that you would be Argent’s new weapon, are you okay?"

I was fine, it was a big weight to carry, but for some reason that didn’t feel like a burden.

The real reason why I’d gotten lost was more inexplicable, since I couldn’t actually tell her about my vow, or we would both die. At least if what the system said was true.

"I just saw a bird." I said without hesitation the first thing that came to my mind. "And I decided to follow it, I wanted to learn about bird lifestyle." As I finished, I made a happy face to show sincerity. but after reflecting on what I said, Kira probably thought that I was...

"You’re crazy." She followed. "First you decide to sleep on the streets of Argent, and now you got to learn about bird’s lifestyle... at least next time try to share the fun with us. We were worried... I was worried." Kira said, the hint of a sad face could start to be seen forming on her skin.

"You’re right!" I said with an energetic, happy tone, trying to cheer her up, to make her feel like I wasn’t being evasive. "Next time let’s all go do something only unemployed people can do. Make turtles race."

"It will have to be after training, but alright. Count me in!" Kira said with a hopeful smile.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I ate as much meat as I could, I told Finn about how awesome it tasted, then we both ate a ton of meat, then we shared it with Rolen, but he declined saying that eating passive mob’s meat would be like eating a friend.

Well I’m sorry Rolen, but you have very tasty friends. If I ever taste a bloop and it’s better than this, they won’t need the ward anymore because I’d probably eat them all.

I said goodbye to everyone after hanging out. And I went to sleep.

Tomorrow was promising to be a pretty eventful day, the first step towards becoming strong—.

"You’re still missing fifty more laps, man." Phinyx said.

"W...WhA... wha...t?" I murmured against the hot, dry sand on the floor. My body was unresponsive and every single fiber of my being was on fire. I was sure that I now understood the way Ember had felt when using her ability.

I decided to play dead, that was the only way I could live to see another day.