Chapter 31: Broken Barrier

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“The good people, the righteous people, the justified people, are the people who will never see the wrongs in others, and those very same people, are the easiest to betray.”

 

 

Traitor Laco, Switching Sides

Year 618

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--POV: Laurence—

--Place: Chamberlayne Residence/ Time:12:23—

“So I want you to go in full throttle in regards to humiliating and criticising the church.”

“Uhmmm…yes of course, Sir” Volkhiem responds over the communication crystal as I give precise orders to carry out.

This Anthony guy was shocked when he used the communication crystal and heard someone other than Clarissa, like, really shocked.

After affirming who I am, he finally decided to take orders, albeit, a bit sceptically. I had to specifically tell him that “The mistress is not available at the moment”

Why? Because she passed out after our session today, we were moving and thrusting so much, her body just couldn’t handle it. What kind of woman dares to try to challenge a dragon in a battle of attrition? Obviously, Clarissa, as she has fainted with white eyes, for the countless n^th time.

And by the way, in case you are curious, this was all for body-intensive training that will move every muscle in the body, and ohh…did Clarissa move, alright. We didn’t do it because we are hornier than rabbits or something….definitely not.

However, what I truly find intriguing is that Clarissa is managing to last longer and longer during our sessions, and it isn’t because she is gaining a tolerance to pleasure, and I have her current face as she is sleeping as proof that her tolerance for pleasure is ZERO. No, the reason she is lasting longer, is that her mental and physical strength is growing…so as I said, this is for training only.

“Anything else?” This guy isn’t the most trustable character in my opinion, but Clarissa said he has showed his loyalty over the years, and so he is deserving of the position.

“No, sir!” Did he salute me just now? I don’t know, but he is clever enough to realize that anyone who can give orders in the Mistress’s stead is definitely in a higher position than him, so he uses formalities.

At least he is not a brainless twat.

And he also hasn’t asked how we controlled the spies to say what they did in the court, so at least he can control his curiosity, so he is definitely as good as Clarissa’s praises of him.

“I see, contact me if anything happens” And with that I shut off the crystal, and turn my gaze to the wondrous beauty sleeping next to me. Yep, those curves are perfect no matter how many times I see them.

100% approval of them actually. That’s how sure I am.

Now that Stella is busy seducing the enemy, and Volkhiem is producing record-breaking amounts of propaganda, I can focus on what has been bothering my mind the most now.

Clarissa’s transition into what’s basically an immortal state.

This is a very dangerous method, one that isn’t known, because I killed anyone who knew it in my previous world.

This state allows her to no longer age, and no longer be affected by time at all, effectively removing her from the river of time.

However, it comes with a price of course, other than me spending a ridiculous (and I mean ridiculous) amount of mana to break the barrier that stands between the flow of time and the timeless void, Clarissa will no longer be able to heal naturally.

Any small wound, no matter how small, will not be able to be healed by the body. So, when I asked her if she wanted to learn healing magic, and she replied with “I’m already getting the hang of it”, I was pleasantly surprised, that she will be able to heal herself proficiently, after I teach her, that is.

Her hair will no longer grow anymore, and can’t fall off, either.

She can still die, because if the body takes a certain amount of damage, or obtains a deadly or lethal wound, her soul will leave the body, She is only immortal, assuming no one kills her.

But this isn’t what’s bugging me, what is actually poking me like a thorn in my side, is her eerily and very quick acceptance of immortality.

The last thing I want, is for her to regret this later.

But given how adamant she is, I can only go along with it and hope for the best.

“Wake up, beautiful” I nudge her as I whisper cheesy words, I never thought I would say.

Like in nearly all my life on my previous homeworld, never did I imagine I would be waking up my lover in what only can be described as cringy.

Opening her eyes slightly, she smiles and puts her hands around my neck. A passionate kiss occurs as both our tongues overlap and intertwine…..she just woke up and this is the first thing she does?

“Good morning” She smiles as she gets off the bed and heads to the bathroom. No shame of being naked at all…..

As expected from a pervert.

--POV: Clarissa Chamberlayne—

--Place: Chamberlayne Residence/ Time:15:07—

“So, I should lay down on the bed?” I ask him after taking a refreshing shower, and dressing up, only to find Laurence dressed in his signature butler suit, one I have gotten very familiar with.

“Yes, and then we’ll begin” Laurence’s serious face proves just how important this is.

…

After laying down on the bed, with my face looking at the ceiling, Laurence sits on a chair near the bed and looks at me.

“Close your eyes, and clear your mind” Doing as he ordered, I close my eyes, feeling a sensation on my forehead that I can only describe as Laurence’s hand. Shaking any thoughts about Laurence’s hand, I try to think of nothing, or a better way to put it is…..not thinking at all.

However, after a while, I don’t feel his hand anymore, or feel myself laying on the bed either, instead….it’s like I’m floating….what the hell, did I get teleported to the middle of the ocean or something? No…no….this isn’t water either.

*CRACK*

I feel the cracking of something for a second, something like a wall? Before suddenly I was dragged into the crack, irresistible and tremendous force pulling me in…..fuck.

Deciding I have to open my eyes to see what’s going on, only to find a blinding light greeting me…..

….

before it all vanishes….everything vanished…

--Place: Unknown/ Time:Unknown—

*RING* *RING*

I wake up with a jerk, as an unfamiliar sound assaults my ears.

Finding myself wearing a white gown….. I look around this very weird-looking room, before I find the origin of the noise being a little black box, with the top side of it covered in….glass?

It is vibrating on the table next to my bed, upon closer inspection, there are a bunch of signs I don’t understand along with a red button and a green button below the signs.

*RING* *RING*

The sound is very annoying and….unusual….it’s a sound I never heard before, actually….it’s more like a tone now that I hear it longer, the tone of the sound is repeating itself…

*RING* *RING*

Taking the little box into my hand, I try to understand what is written, but to no avail. The button seem like choices, and the signs are representing…..a question?

Is it like a YES or NO kind of question?

With my determination to find out what’s going to happen, I click the red button….

….

……….

Oh? Silence? The lights on the box shuts off, and now there is nothing but black. Did I click the right butto-

*RING* *RING*

It starts vibrating in my hand again, showing the same signs and the same choices. So the red button was the wrong answer? Ok, ok, let’s try the green button…..and press.

“Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?” Holy shit?! What the fuck is happening? I can hear Laurence’s voice in this box….

“Laurence? Are you there?”

“Phew….I thought something was wrong….I couldn’t reach you at all!” I can hear relief in his voice. But more importantly…

“Is this a communication crystal?” I have never seen one like this before…

“Is what a communication crystal?” Laurence is confused….doesn’t he have one of these boxes too?

“You are talking to me on a box, it has weird signs and two buttons….”

“Box? Look, where you are right now is a random plane…..now that you have been thrown on the other side of the timeless void, you could be anywhere right now….in any time as well.” Wait….so I could be ANYWHERE….how far is anywhere anyway….and at any time….to boot….

“When I went through the barrier, I found myself on a dark cloud I saw when I was younger.” Laurence explains his experience……but wow…..so I am anywhere? But Laurence was found somewhere he has memories of, I’m pretty sure I don’t have any memories on here.

“The goal is also random, so you need to find out where you are first” Laurence gives me a brief rundown of my situation, something he should have given me before I came here…. “So…where are you?”

Well… “I’m alone in this room, am sitting on a bed right now, there is a wire or a tube…..or something like that going into my right forearm”

“A tube?”

“Yes, it’s connected to a box that is supported by a stand, on this box is a red line that is going up and down as it travels from the left side of the box to the right”

“I see, this thing is probably doing something to your body, if not at least observing and monitoring it. Try and remove this tube from your body.”

I was thinking to do that anyway, this thing is really restricting my movements.

“Ouch-”

“Remove it gently, damn it!” Ok, mom……how was I supposed to know it was going to hurt? I know nothing about where I am, these mistakes are to be expected.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

“Uhhh…Laurence….the big box is making a noise and there are signs blinking on it.” Different signs from the one that was on the little box, I am certain of that at least. “The red line is no longer there though”

“I see, silence it so you don’t attract noise from the environment, it is making quite the racket.” Good point if I’m alone here.

“Laurence….I can’t use magic?!” I slightly scream into the little box as I just realize I have no mana in my body here…what the fuck?

“Just calm down, and stay quiet…..and also stop the thing from beeping”

*CRASH*

“What is that?! What happened?”

“The box fell over” I just punched it a little…..fuck, I can already feel him ready to scold me again for making noise “I’m going to explore the room I’m in”

“Haah…” He can tell I just changed the subject “Describe everything for me.”

“Well….there is another thin and very flat box on the wall, on it is changing colours of grey, black and white….it seems broken” From what I know from the big box that was next to me, and the little box I am talking on, the flat box on the wall seems like it isn’t working.

“Ok…ok…what else…..”

“There is also a ba-”

*WEE WOO* *WEE WOO* (A/N: Ambulance siren noises, I apologize for the cringe)

“What now? What is that?”

It’s… “It’s coming from outside…” walking to the weird window, I look through it and find a very unfamiliar sight…

“Umm….there are huge metal objects with wheels in the place where they are….parked I think?”

“Is there anyone there? Where did that noise come from?”

“there is no one I can see, and I can’t see what created the noise but….” More importantly there is…. “Black mist….there is a lot of black smoke behind the gates of this place…and this smoke goes all around, it’s also blocking the sky.”

“This smoke is a deadly fog that surrounds wherever you are in a circle. If you touch it or go near it, your soul can perish…..so no matter what, don’t ever approach it, because it is the limits of where you are.”

“Limits?”

“Yes, it is an endless catastrophe that the user can’t pass or reach….it’s basically forcing you to stay in the place you are in, and stopping you from going outside….the only way to escape is to do the goal, like I said.”

Well, ain’t this great news….now that I think about it…would I have changed my mind if Laurence told me this before I got here? No, I would still probably come here, because an infinite amount of time I can spend with Laurence far outweighs the dangers of this place.

“Ohhh! There is something coming through the fog….it is a red and white metal carriage like the ones that are parked here” The metal object came through the fog behind the gates, but how did it do that? Am I the only one not allowed to touch the fog….is everyone else allowed to?

With flashing red lights on the top of the object, the metal object goes in between the other metal objects that are parked, before it too stops right in front of the very tall building I am in.

“It stopped and there is some…some humans coming out?!” There are others here!….well there should have been someone driving that object anyway so I shouldn’t be this surprised, but all of this feels so surreal so I didn’t expect anyone else to be here….. “There are two people who are carrying someone who seems like he is injured on a large tray, they are going towards the building I am in”

“You need to hide now! Don’t let them see you!” Laurence is very impatient….maybe I should hide somewhere….

Opening the door after making sure there is no one in the hallway, I make a quick right and try to move as quietly as possible.

There are many others doors that have rooms just like the one I came out of, but there is no one in them. As I continue walking, I see the end of the corridor.

Reaching it, I look around…only to find something similar to a reception? Excluding the same black boxes on the desk on walls, there is chairs and what looks like a reception desk…..

No one is here, but wher-

*CLATTER* *CLATTER*

Looking in the direction of the staircase, I hear clattering and footsteps, of what I can only assume is the people who just entered the building with the injured person. Why did I have to go in the direction they are coming from damn it!

“What are you doing?! They are coming!” Laurence’s voice wakes me up from my trance…

Fuck, I need to find a place to hide…

A place..

A place…..

Anywhere will do….

Aha! After looking everywhere in the waiting room in panic, I find a locker that is on the side of the reception desk and near one of the corridors leading away from the reception room.

Dashing towards it and praying it is empty, I open and find….

Nothing

After thanking my luck, I jump inside of it and close the locker behind me, the only light in this tight space, is the very few openings in the locker door that I assume is for ventilation, peeking through it, I see the people coming up the stairs.

“%$£G&FD”

“*&!@Y£A#”

They are talking…gibberish. I can’t understand anything they are saying as they make it up the stairs with the injured person on the mobile bed.

Holy shit! They are coming towards me….they just had to pick the corridor next to the locker I’m hiding in.

However, I’m not planning to let an opportunity to see them close up go to waste. Focusing my eyes through the gap in the locker door, I find the two people who are carrying the third, wearing blue masks on their face that is covering their mouth and nose…..what is this design? Is this a uniform?

Removing the useless thoughts, my gaze hovers to the injured person only to find his face belonging to….

“L-Laurence” A quiet whisper escapes my mouth, as the shock disappears and rationality taking over.

Laurence is on the mobile bed that the 2 others are carrying, looking very pale with his face twisting in pain, t-that’s an illusion…right?

“Yea?” An equally quiet voice emits from the little box as the people go past the locker.

After hearing their footsteps getting quieter and further away, I murmur to him “You are the injured person that the people are carrying to a room”

“Me? So the void really did use a part of your memories huh….” His voice doesn’t have any surprise in it, only wariness. “There is two things this new development could represent”

He continues “This is either a part of the goal that you are required to fulfil to pass the barrier, or, this is a trap that is meant to lure you to your demise, and prevent you from reaching your objective.”

I have been hearing bad news ever since I woke up in this god forsaken place “And what do I do?”

“Are you sure that it is only you and the other 3 people who just came in that are the only living beings in this building?”

“Yes” I haven’t seen anyone else here.

“Okay, then follow them, but do so from far away” That is the only thing I can do other than run.

Steeling my resolve, I quietly open the locker door, before stealthily following the direction they went in.

After, tracing them by peeking at them from behind corners everytime the corridor takes a turn, I maintain my vigilance as I tiptoe forward.

A lot of walking later, and I finally see them enter a room, a room that is situated when the corridor splits into left and right. It is a room that has double doors, with a sign above it, that I can’t read.

After making sure they weren’t coming out, and instead seeing them do something in the room through the glass on the door. I sneak forward, before lifting my head just so my eyes, can see what they are doing.

“Gasp-” What the hell?! What did I just see?!

I slump on the wall next to the door, heavily breathing……

“What is going on?! Are you there? Where are you?!” Frequent questions are the coming out of the little box in my hand as I try to process what I just saw.

Laurence was there, on the bed in that room, with his stomach open and his organs visible…..fuck!

Those 2 motherfuckers had sharp and shiny tools in their hands as Laurence lay, with eyes closed…..They were opening and toying with the organs in Laurence’s body….

Wait…wait…

….this is an illusion….this is all in my head….I’m simply dreaming….this is a test…that’s it….a test.

For the sake of becoming immortal, I will persevere, this sight won’t stop me. If the void thinks it’s smart by doing this, then it have another thing coming.

*CLICK* *CLACK*

Footsteps in the hallway, make me turn in that direction, only to find a middle-aged-man, stopping 20 feet away from me, looking at me as I lay with back against the wall, next to the double-doored room.

He is wearing a white coat, with clothes underneath. And what looks like a pen in his breast pocket, along with weird shaped glasses, he can truly be called an odd person.

But what’s more pressing than that is he is looking at me, in my eyes, before speaking in the language that is the common tongue on the human continent.

His mouth morphs into a terrifying grin that takes more than half of his face “You are the girl who has been showing up on the cameras”

Oh…shit…