The Outlands

Ellie sliced the boss clean in two, dusting herself off as the remains fell behind her.

It was a couple of months after Tess had returned to school, just a week or two before their graduation. She had both Friday and Monday off school for a holiday, so Ker and Jin had insisted she come visit some dungeons that were further away from the city.

And, loathe as she had been to be away from Tess for that long when things were finally starting to get good between them, she knew that this would greatly speed up the process of finishing her training, which in turn meant she would be in a full-time party with Tess that much faster.

Still, fighting the Blacker Widow in this dungeon felt…wrong. It, well, it was the monster Silky was based on, and even though it was far bigger than Silky, she couldn’t help but feel bad striking it down. She had warmed up significantly to the spider since she had first met her, and every time she fought this boss it kind of felt like fighting Silky, and she hated that.

“Excellent work.” Jin said. “Let’s get your reward and then we’ll be on our way back.” He opened the door to the Rewards Crystal room, giving Ellie a nod and motioning for her to walk through.

Ellie strode through the door and up to the Rewards Crystal, placing a hand on it. There was a long moment, longer than usual for getting her reward, and then, finally, a window popped up.

Ellie waved the window away only to be greeted with another one.

Ellie smiled, giving Fortune her thanks mentally. Operation Keep Tess Safe had been put on the backburner for a while, but she hadn’t given up on it. Tess could fend for herself, yes, but that didn’t mean that Ellie wouldn’t have opportunities to help her out.

Hopefully Fortune was listening in on those thoughts, but if she wasn’t, Ellie could just ask Tess to relay a message.

She stopped, thinking about that a bit more. Tess and her would get interrupted by messages from the gods in their conversations with each other on a pretty regular basis, and then they’d have to tell each other what had been said, and it wasn’t really an ideal situation. She’d have to ask Life or Death and see if there was a way that they could have like…a group message or something. It would certainly make things a lot easier.

“Alright.” Ellie said, turning to Ker and Jin. “New Class.”

Ker raised a brow. “Which one?”

“Aegis.” Ellie replied, smirking.

“Seriously? Alice is gonna be burning with envy, she’s been wanting that for ages.”

“Can we take a moment for me to switch Classes before we leave? I want to start getting this as leveled up ASAP.”

“Can’t say I blame you.” Jin replied. “But be fast about it. You have an appointment with the Guildmaster you can’t afford to be late for, right?”

Ellie nodded. “Don’t worry, I will.” She left the room, striding over to the Party Crystal and changing her class, before moving over to the dungeon’s exit. She did have an appointment with her grandfather, an important one at that. Fortunately, this dungeon was only a few hours outside of the city by hoverer, so she would be able to make it in time.

That didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking, though. She was finally going to give her answer to Life and Death, and she wanted to do it in person, so she needed her grandfather to teleport her. The only other way she knew to get there was through the Holy Room in the church in Mael, but that seemed like a lot of trouble when her grandfather could just take her himself. Plus, he said he had some business that could be done while he was waiting for her, so it worked out.

The trip seemed to both take forever and be over in an instant, and she was soon outside of her grandfather’s office, knocking on the door.

“Come in!” He said cheerfully.

Ellie opened the door and stepped into the room, gingerly closing the door behind her. “I’m ready, Grandpa.”

He gave her a reassuring smile. “Whatever you decide, no one’s going to think differently about you. It’s a very personal choice and it’s okay to say no if you so choose.” He walked over to a cleared area in the center of the room, leaning down and giving the floor a tap.

A complex magical formation burst into existence, and he motioned for her to step inside. “Head on in and we’ll be off.”

Ellie took a cautious step in, and then, suddenly, she was in that clean, professional-looking area that was the domain of the gods.

Life and Death were waiting for her, sitting in a set of chairs off to the side. “Hey, Ellie!” Death chirped, patting a chair next to her. “Come take a seat!”

“I’ll leave you three to it.” Gramps said, turning to leave the room as Ellie went to sit down.

“Thank you, Evan.” Life said. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I really don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Gramps chuckled. “Don’t mention it. I’m just doing my job.” With that he exited, leaving the three of them alone.

“So, Ellie,” Life began, “I understand you have decided on whether or not you’d like to be our Appointed?”

Ellie nodded, gulping. “Yeah, I have.” She said. “And the answer is yes.”

“Sweet!” Death said, pumping a fist. “Mind telling me what made you decide that?”

Ellie blushed, scratching her cheek. “I’m not going to lie, part of it was just so that I had it in common with Tess, but I thought about it and realized that…well, I dunno, it’d allow me to put my skillset to work doing something that really helps people out. I think that if I didn’t accept this offer, some part of me would always regret it, and I don’t want to live like that.”

Death smiled. “Awesome. Give us a minute to give our Blessings to you, and then we’ll officially make you our Appointed, sound good?”

Ellie nodded. “Um, before we start, I have an idea I want to pitch.”

Life raised an eyebrow. “We’re listening. Remember, we’re equal partners in this relationship, so we’re not going to dismiss anything out of hand.”

“Right…well, I was thinking, and…when Tess and I are talking, we end up having to repeat what you guys or Fortune say a lot, so I was wondering…is it at all possible for us to like…have some sort of group message? Something that would let us all communicate with each other at the same time, maybe even let Tess and I send messages to you guys the same way?”

Life stroked his chin thoughtfully. “A valid point. I’m not sure something like this has ever been tried, but I see no reason it wouldn’t work. I’ll check in with Amy by the end of the day and see if it’s possible. If it is, then I’ll let you know, and you’ll just need to convince Tess, and we’ll convince Fortune.”

“Ah, I’m sure they’ll be fine with it.” Death replied. “They’re pretty chill. I think it’s a great idea, I kinda wish I had thought of it myself.”

Ellie smiled. “I’m glad you agree with me. Um…I guess that’s all, though, I’m ready now.” She braced herself for the process, causing Death to laugh.

“Don’t worry so much.” She said. “You won’t feel a thing.”

“That’s a lie.” Life said. “You’ll probably feel some sort of a surge of power, but it won’t be unpleasant, I can promise you that much.”

“Right. Let’s do this!” Death raised her hand, and Life raised his as well. “On the count of three, one…two…three!”

There was an odd sensation as Ellie felt something alien enter her body. It was…not really comparable to anything she had felt before, but Life was right; it felt good. It was like the scope of her senses had been increased, everything feeling sharper, more real. It lasted for a few moments before ebbing away, though if she focused, she could still feel faint echoes of it.

“How you feeling?” Death asked. “Up for going straight into being an Appointed?”

Ellie nodded. “I think so. Are we Descending right away like Tess?”

Death laughed. “Not right away, though we will have to test it out before you leave, just to make sure it’s working as intended. Is that okay?”

Ellie nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine to try it whenever, I was just wondering.”

“Perfect, I suppose we might as well do this then.” Death stood up, her whole air changing, becoming more…dignified as she looked at Ellie.

Life stood up as well, grabbing Death’s hand. “Ellie, repeat after me: I, Ellie, accept the position of Life and Death’s Appointed, to further their cause as I see fit, and to keep secret things mortals should not know.”

Ellie stood as well, looking into their eyes. “I, Ellie, accept the position of Life and Death’s Appointed, to further their cause as I see fit, and to keep secret things mortals should not know.”

“We, Life and Death, accept Ellie as our Appointed, to treat her fairly and respect her as if she were another god, and to be responsible with the power we hold over her.” Death said, smiling. “Should we fail to do so, we accept whatever punishment is seen fit.”

There was a tense moment and then there was a distant rumbling, like thunder. That nice feeling she had received when she got the Blessings flared up, briefly intensifying before it simmered back down and she felt normal again.

“And that’s that!” Death said, letting go of Life’s hand, her demeanor returning to her usual casualness. “What do you think?”

“It felt…nice. So…what now?”

Death shrugged. “Dunno. At some point here we gotta test Descents, but other than that I was thinking we’d just sorta…chill until Evan’s done with whatever he’s doing.”

“Do you mind if we test it now?” Life asked. “I have a few things I want to take care of myself.”

“Sure.” Ellie said. “Ready when you are.”

Life sat back down. “Alright, doing it now.” His body went limp and a sort of shock ran through Ellie as she felt Life sort of…slide into her. It was an odd sensation, being able to feel his thoughts, having shared control of the body, sort of…feeling the same.

That in and of itself wasn’t wholly unpleasant, but it also came with a feeling like her body was fuller than it could handle and was bursting apart at the seams, and that wasn’t pleasant in the slightest. Yet, at the same time, she also felt…invincible, like she could do anything if she just tried. It was an odd dichotomy that she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about.

Sorry about that. Life told her. I’m afraid that Descents are gonna feel like this for a while. Once you’re more used to this and can stay in Descent longer it won’t feel anywhere near this bad. This is what it feels like when you’ve been in Descent long enough that it’ll be dangerous soon.

“Alright Life, let’s try switching.” Death said, sitting down in a chair of her own.

There was a wrenching sensation and Death’s body went limp as Life regained control of his own.

And that painful bursting feeling multiplied in intensity, causing Ellie to drop to her knees. Oh crap I’m so sorry I didn’t realize it’d be this intensive to do a mid-Descent switch.

Almost immediately Death retreated from Ellie’s body, leaving her feeling sore. “Why did it suddenly get so much worse?” She croaked.

“We figured out a way to switch places during descent, but it would shorten the time we could be in Descent. We just…didn’t think it’d be that much. Sorry, let me go get you a drink, what’d you like? We have literally everything you could ask for.”

“Orange juice…would be nice.” Ellie replied, getting back into the chair she had been sitting in.

“Be back in a couple of minutes, you’ll start feeling better within like half an hour, just try and push through it, alright?”

Ellie nodded, and Death left.

A few moments later, Life stood up. “I’m going to go talk to Amy about that group chat thing.” He moved to leave the room but lingered in the doorway. “And, um, thanks. It helps us out a ton to have you as our Appointed, more than you probably realize. Just let us know if you need anything, and we’ll help you out as much as we can.”

He left the room, leaving Ellie on her own. So, she sat and waited for Death to get back, the gravity of the decision she had just made finally starting to sink in.