Saintess Summons Skeletons

Security around the playhouse was not nearly as tight as it was for the Queen’s rest, getting in was almost effortless, it was joining the parts open to the public while avoiding getting seen by the staff which was a bit tougher. Still, Sofia managed, funnily enough, by entering through the exact same window they had gone through in the real world. She did not even bother trying to find a costume that fit her, and just left the room, thinking that her fur mantle would probably do the job, as there were some among the hung costumes anyway. Walking through a crowd of prepping musicians and busy technicians in the playhouse’s back rooms was not the same as trying to avoid guard.

She tried to avoid them all as much as possible, but when she couldn’t help crossing a crowded area, of course her size inevitably drew a few glances. Still, just walking confidently did the trick, no one stopped her. As for the direction to take, Sofia found a trail of yellow arrows painted on the ground in the corridors, and decided to just follow them, thinking they would lead her either to the exit or to the main stage, which were both better places to be than the middle of the backstage changing rooms. She was especially interested in finding the main stage. If Pareth was here, and she wanted to find him, her best choice was to cause some kind of a scene there when everyone was seated, that way everyone would see her.

Sofia took a turn, following the arrows, she found herself in a rare empty corridor with no one in sight.

Finally I can relax for a few seconds!

No one said anything yet but I really felt watched…

I’ve walked a lot, I can’t be far from the stage now…

Sofia stopped in the middle of the empty corridor.

She looked back.

What’s with the sudden silence?

Overtaken by a bad feeling, Sofia ran back to the last turn. When, standing at the junction, she looked at the corridor she had just come from, she saw the same one she was standing in. She could even see herself from the side, at the other end.

She sighed. “A spatial bridge trap? And without mana? That’s messed up.”

Sofia heard a giggle. A feminine, ethereal laugh, coming from all directions at once. She could feel Pestle getting ready to jump from under her coat.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Sofia asked, knowing that she was at the mercy of whoever had built this trap. She had studied spatial magic traps with Astelia a bit after getting trapped with her students in the endless cube, back in the academy. Without mana to find the ritual’s core and destroy it, there was no way to get out.

A soft voice answered, “Funny, I was hoping to ask the same questions!”

“Is that right? Why the trap, then?”

“You can just kill yourself if you really want to get out,” the voice answered lightly, as if she found the situation funny more than anything else.

Sarcasm? If not then she’s literal, meaning she knows about the loops…

“Nothing to say?” the voice continued, “You still haven’t answered the questions.”

Impatient…

“I’m weighing my options,” Sofia answered honestly.

The voice sighed in return, “And here I was, hoping you would be more talkative than your tall friend…”

“Pareth was here?!” Sofia asked.

“Pareth? Well he never told me his name, so I couldn’t tell you. I’d describe his face if I could, but you know how it is. I don’t even know what I look like anymore.”

She sees the blurry faces? The people here don’t ever acknowledge that… She must really know about the loop… She has to be from outside the…

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“Are you Remia?” Sofia tried, out of nowhere.

“Oh oh! It’s been a long time since I heard this one. No wonder you were all coming toward me! You were looking for me?! Ahh, you should have been more careful, you got trapped by Serdross.”

Serdross… Is that the corrupted Dragon who sent us here? Actually, nevermind that.

“It seems we started on the wrong foot. I’m Sofia, and my friends and I came here to find an old spell schematic. Do you mind speaking face to face?”

“I don’t mind,” the voice answered, “but we have to be quick. The people out there get very mad if I skip the concert.”

“Wait, you’re the ‘diva’ singing here? You do this every loop?” Sofia asked, in shock at the implications of this. An endless routine, lasting for thousands of years.

“I barely have a choice, skip three weeks in a row and I start to disappear. That doesn’t feel very good. Here, let me break the trap… Can you open the second door on your right, please?”

Sofia walked a few steps and opened said door. Her perspective shifted, and she found herself holding a wardrobe’s door knob instead of a room door. The voice spoke up again, but this time it came from behind instead of everywhere at once.

“Welcome to my private lounge,” she told Sofia.

Sofia turned around. A barefoot woman wearing nothing but a straight white robe was sitting on a stool, her back turned to the wall mirrors. Her skin was so pale it made one wonder whether the robe or her skin was the whitest. She lightly waved at Sofia.

“I’m smiling at you,” the goddess voiced, “even if you can see it.”

“I have too many questions to be that carefree,” Sofia answered, “but I suppose, it’s an honor to meet you. I have been using your music a lot.”

“You have? Hmmm… So that man wasn’t lying when he said he would spread it around… I might actually be able to skip a few concerts in a row now. Thanks!”

That man? The admin? Could also be Avross, but considering the dagger had the schematics for the [Sixth melody], it must have been Nex.

“Wait… You get energy from people playing your music?”

“Listening to it,” Remia corrected, “but yes. My existence is a bit… Different. Compared to other fiends.”

“Fiends?” Sofia repeated.

“That’s what I am. What else does one call an entity feeding off of people’s emotions?”

Gods? Sofia wanted to answer, but she was not about to waste time debating nomenclature when she had the unique opportunity of talking to someone likely to be a survivor of the Lost Epoch, who happened to also likely be her ticket out of the looping fake world. She decided to redirect the conversation that way.

“Why don’t you leave this world, then? There are a lot more people outside. You wouldn’t have to keep singing every loop.”

“I’m stuck here until death gets me!” Remia confidently answered, “I did what I had to do to avoid the–” Her voice stopped. There was a strange silence in the middle of her sentence. “-- so that’s a lot better than the other ones who are all dead already!”

“I couldn’t hear what you said between ‘avoid’ and ‘a lot better’,” Sofia told Remia, “It was like you stopped speaking.”

“There are a lot more now?” Remia asked, as if repeating a statement that Sofia had made. Except that she didn’t.

“That’s not what I said…” Sofia tried.

“Good point! I wonder if one has replaced me, then. Since fiends are all unique. But I’m already half dead, so who knows.”

Just what the fuck… It’s like she’s hearing something different that I’m not saying. Is she playing dumb or is something stranger going on? Divine penalty? System censor? What is this?

“What’s your favorite colour?” Sofia tried to see how Remia would react.

“Huh? That… I mean… I like black and white?” Remia answered, confused by the random question.

That she heard?

“What did you avoid by coming to this fake world?” Sofia then tried.

“H- huh… White too, I guess? Wh- Why do you want to know?” Remia asked, hiding her blurry face with her hands.

Just what did you hear?! Is it the creator of this fake world interfering now?

“Sorry, I, I don’t know what was going through my head,” Sofia apologized, though she had no idea what Remia had actually heard that she looked so embarrassed about. “I’ve been using the Sixth melody, the same one you were playing in the real world… How come you can do that if you are stuck here, by the way?”

“You like it too?!” the goddess asked, “It’s one of my favorite pieces! I couldn’t stop singing it for years after putting it all together!” she enthusiastically told Sofia, “I suppose what’s left of me outside still likes it too. It’s just an empty shell of me though. I would advise against going too close. Serdross might have actually saved you by stopping you in time, you know? I have no control over what happens out there, I can just see outside a bit.”

“Speaking of outside, do you know how I can leave?”

“Of course, it’s quite eas- Ah! You’re lucky! Your mute friend is coming this way!”

Pareth!