Chapter 5 - W4UP Series 01: The beginning /Dala's Dream 02

"Hello Dala, welcome back."

"Dear Dala, I'm really sorry for everything you went through, but we don't have much time."

"We could lose Elo."

Dala could hear and see this right in front of her eyes. Her eyes were closed, and everything was black, yet she could vividly see it in her mind—the words popping out from within the darkness, clear as day. A sweet, calm, and soothing female voice spoke to her. "Dala, you have one question available."

She felt at ease for a moment but could still sense the damage she had endured. She had broken down, given up, wanted to let go. Her body felt cleansed, yet she still felt the echoes of what had been done to her moments ago, and for nearly three years. She felt shattered for a moment before regaining her senses.

"Elo?" she thought, and the black space briefly brightened to reveal the silhouette of Elo's eyes, recalling the message. Lose Elo? She could give up on herself, let herself go... but not Elo. Not those eyes.

"What can I do?" asked Dala in her mind, with a confident tone.

"Correct question."

"0% penalty received."

"Executing Martyr protocol."

"Dala, currently you are in a cocoon made of angelic feathers and ether."

"Your vessel and your soul are being reconstructed."

"Elo is in a frenzy due to his guilt, and he could die."

"He already unlocked the Stop skill, and you can use it without penalty. Do it now."

"<<>>"—said Dala without hesitating in a deep voice. It was like an instinct. It was almost a whisper but reverberated all around her sending waves of vibration throughout the space.

"Time stopped. Good, Dala."

"Now we can talk a bit."

"Dala, the reality that you consider your life, all the pain, the love, and memories, are a mathematical construction of a system we call 'the real.' In words you could easily understand, that 'life' was basically a virtual experience within a system that feeds on emotions. What's real and what's not doesn't apply to the kind of state we are in, so please discard the notion. Please confirm."

What was real for Dala was pain, remorse, and abandonment. But she somehow broke from that reality and now felt at ease. However, that didn't last long. Elo came to mind, and a sharp pain went through her. She focused and said:

"Confirmed."

"Dala, you went through a lot of soul damage. Due to this, you will receive a huge amount of karma. This Karma is hurtful for your soul but it can be used to empower yours's and Elo's Skills. With the skills unlucked you can affect and bend what you call reality at will. We call that life or reality you were living 'experiences.' Sometimes we use the word 'iteration.' In human terms, it could also be called incarnation, but we mostly call it 'experience.' Well, I call it that. so...Call it experience! Please confirm."

"WTF," the system was giving her attitude, but it sounded familiar, almost like an old friend. "Okay, I will call it experience," replied Dala and her surroundings shinned for a bit before goin back to black.

"Confirmed."

"You better."

"Dala, due to the skill you used, time is frozen, but not really. To put it simply, time relative to you has stopped, but it's actually moving—just at 1/256 of the speed of normal experience. So, 4 minutes and 16 seconds for you, its just a second for others"

"Dala, time's running out. Elo's skill failed, and he's currently under attack. He's disappearing into the darkness." The space around her shifted, and suddenly she could see Elo. More than seeing him, she felt everything that was happening to him. He was surrounded by a dark dome of smoke, disintegrating into nothingness. What hurt her the most, though, was the profound loneliness he felt—flashes of Elo sitting alone in his dark room. She was right outside the room, yet they couldn't reach each other. She felt despair like never before, almost on the verge of tears, but was interrupted.

"Use some of your karma and execute the 'Cannon fodder' skill. Do it now!" exclaimed the voice in Dala's head.

"<>," the words came out of her mouth, and the fabric of reality hummed for an instant.

"Martyr activation initiated."

"Karma downloaded: 0.12%."

"Penalty applied: 12% soul damage."

"O has descended."

"All praise O, all praise the founder."

"Martyr authority approved."

"Executing external control."

"<<>>" came out of Elo's mouth, and the darkness surrounding him dispersed followed by a wave of light. Dala relaxed for a moment before noticing a man standing at the back of the barn, smiling with black eyes that felt like a hole —her torturer. In a flash, her whole body felt the pain inflicted upon her. She was scared but realized what was happening. Elo was losing consciousness and falling to the ground.

"Bring him back quickly, use Jump," exclaimed the voice in her head.

<<>> Exclaimed Dala and the environment blinked.

"Executing Jump."

She was back in her mind space, and an image was being projected in front of her. Elo's body rested on a bed-shaped surface made of white feathers, levitating a short distance above a white floor. She felt at ease, but she was exhausted—truly exhausted. What she had just experienced was beyond what she could process all at once. Her consciousness faded away, and she fell asleep.

"Good job, Dala. You can rest now."

"Running lullaby."